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TO ROME 

AND BACK AGAIN; 



OR, 



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ADAPTED FROM THE GERMAN,^ 

JOHE" gJ'mORRIS, D.D. 

PASTOR OP THE FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH, BALTIMORE. 



BALTIMOKE: 
T. NEWTON K U E T Z, 

No. 151 PRATT STREET. 

1856. 






>^^' 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 185G, by 
T. NEWTON KURTZ, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Maryland. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSOX , 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



More than twenty years ago, the substance of this 
book was published under another title, when it was highly 
recommended by many divines of our own and other 
churches. 

Judicious friends have advised me to prepare a new 
edition, and I have accordingly rewritten a large portion 
of it, added new characters, and transferred the whole 
scene of the story to this country. 

J. G. M. 

Baltimore, A^pril 1, 1856. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

Parentage, Education, and Apostasy of Charles Werner = 9 



CHAPTER II. 
Romance and Conversion 13 

CHAPTER III. 
Return Home — Giuletta 21 

CHAPTER IV. 

Charles's Arrival at Home — Dare we change our Creed? 83 

CHAPTER V. 
Going to Church — The Latin Liturgy 42 

CHAPTER YI. 
A Family Discussion 48 

CHAPTER VII. 
Mixed Marriage — The Condemnation of Heretics — What is de- 
manded to obtain Eternal Life 59 

1* 5 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Giuletta — Matt. xix. 16, 19 — Influence of the Catholic Sacraments 

in comforting the Mind 68 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Only True Church and her Popes 80 

CHAPTER X. 
Giuletta — Matt, xxiii. — The Acknowledgment 102 

CHAPTER XI. 
Tradition and the Infallibility of the Church 120 

CHAPTER XII. 
Unwelcome Correspondence 128 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Bible 133 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Another Attempt to regain Giuletta 151 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Priesthood and Consecration 156 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Romish and Evangelical Worship — The Mass 167 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Giuletta and Purgatory.... 177 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PAG3 

The Saints and Martyrs 182 

CHAPTER XIX. 
A Third Attempt at Rescue 190 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Morality of the Romish Church — Christian Perfection — Indul- 
gence and Good Works 193 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Continuation — Absolution from Oaths — The Pope's Marriage — Blind 

Obedience — The Government 201 

CHAPTER XXII. 
The Cup in the Sacrament — Extreme Unction — Giuletta's Resolu- 
tion 209 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Charles in a Dilemma — A Man can be a Good Christian as a Catholic. 216 

' CHAPTER XXIY. 

Charles and Giuletta — Her Serious Illness and Final Recovery — 
Letters of Recommendation — Doctor Frederick — Charles's Re- 
turn to the True Faith — Happy Family 223 

CHAPTER XXY. 
The Anticipated Event — Almost a Disappointment — A Stranger — 

A Surprise — Double Wedding — Conclusion 231 



TO ROME AID BACK AGAII; 



ij\t t;fo0 Iroselgtes^ 



CHAPTER I. 



PARENTAGE, EDUCATION, AND APOSTASY OF CHARLES 
WERNER. 

Charles Werner was the only son of a respectable Lutheran 
clergyman in tlie interior of one of the Middle States. From his 
early youth he displayed an extraordinary talent for music. 
When yet a boy, he performed with exquisite skill and taste on 
several instruments, and attracted the admiration of all the ama- 
teurs of the country around. He was the organist in his father^s 
church, and even ventured to give lessons in music to the boys 
and girls of his native village. 

He was carefully instructed in the doctrines and duties of re- 
ligion by his father, who cherished the secret hope of one day 
seeing his son succeed him as pastor of the church. Though 
Charles diligently pursued his religious and scholastic studies, yet 
he felt no disposition for the ministry; and his prudent father 
would not compel him to prepare for a profession for which he 
had neither inclination nor taste. All his time not given to 
his school-books — and much of it that should have been — was de- 
voted to his favorite and absorbing pursuit of music. The father 
yielded reluctantly to the son's determination to adopt it as his 
profession for life ; and to this end after the lapse of a few years. 



10 APOSTASY. 

he was sent to PHladelpliia to receive instruction from several 
accomplished and eminent professors of music. His progress was 
rapid, and^ having received recommendations from his instructors, 
behold him lanching forth into the world as a teacher himself, 
though yet not over twenty years of age. 

He began his career in a large inland town, in the vicinity of 
which there was a celebrated Ladies' Seminary, under the control 
of the Eoman Catholic church. As a stanch Protestant, he, of 
course, received no patronage there; besides, the school was well 
provided with a teacher, of the same religious faith. But his 
acknowledged skill, his high moral character, his flattering recom- 
mendations, and, it may be, his handsome person and amiable dis- 
position, soon procured him as many female pupils from the vil- 
lage as he could teach. 

This state of things continued for several years, during which 
time an extraordinary change took place in this young man's 
mind. Charles had become a convert to the papacy. The cir- 
cumstances attending this momentous event shall be related in 
the course of our narrative. 

He had been several years absent from home, but he was now 
expected at the paternal mansion. His arrival was looked for 
with the most intense anxiety by his parents and his sister 
Amelia, who had recently entered into a matrimonial engagement 
with the young minister of a neighboring parish. But with this 
feeling of joy at seeing him who had now been absent three years, 
there was mingled an emotion of deep solicitude, yea, of melan- 
choly foreboding, which diminished in the father's heart, at least, 
the pleasure of the anticipated meeting. 

Charles had communicated the fact of his conversion to his 
parents only a short time before his arrival. This inconsiderate 
step deeply pained the strictly Protestant father, who, firmly con- 
vinced of the superior advantages of his own church, regarded 
the Bomish communion in a very unfavorable light. He was 
mortified that his only son had attached himself to a church 
which, in his view, was corrupt in doctrine and practice. 



APOSTASY. 11 

The family had as yet kept the apostasy of the son a secret ; but 
it was very often the unpleasant subject of their private conver- 
sation. Charles had informed them that he had become a Eo- 
manist from conviction ; he had earnestly entreated them not to 
consider him as one of those unworthy proselytes who change 
their faith as they do their garments^ for the sake of a benefice, 
or a pension, or an advantageous marriage. But all this did not 
mitigate the grief of the father, who painfully felt that now a 
great partition- wall separated him from the affections of his son. 
^' How can Charles,^' said he, in deep mortification, ^' have any 
confidence in us now? how can he any longer respect us, when, 
according to the principles of his church, he must look upon us 
as heretics, as children of the devil, and devoted to eternal de- 
struction ? For my part, I know not how I could trust or esteem 
those of whom I believed that they were full of soul-destroying 
errors, that they were wholly under the influence of Satan, and 
that they were devoted by God to everlasting damnation V^ — and 
he vehemently added — '' If he has become a Jesuit and cursed 
father and mother and teacher, because they educated him in 
heresy, oh, then I never wish to see my child again V' 

^' That,'^ replied the mother, with earnestness, '^ that, Charles 
has certainly not done. I know my son too well ! What ! to 
curse the mother who bore and nourished him ? — that would be 
too awful ! — that my son has not done ! He has assuredly not 
forgotten that passage of Scripture, (^Prov. xx. 20 :) ' Whoso 
curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in ob- 
scure darkness.^ ^' 

^* I can myself scarcely believe any thing so bad of him,^^ said 
the father. 

^^And I,^^ said Amelia, ^^ cannot believe that the Eomish 
church demands any thing so unchristian of her proselytes.^' 

•^We should really think so,'' added the father; ^^but a 
church which condemns and curses us all without distinction as 
heretics, acts at least consistently when she demands of her pros- 
elytes not to exempt their relatives and friends from this male- 



12 REGRETS. 

diction. Certain it is that the Jesuits, at least, have required 
this of the proselytes they have made/' 

^' But all Romanists are not Jesuits/' observed the daughter. 

^^ True/' responded the father, '^ but the whole Eomish system 
is intolerant and exclusive. It demands of its converts a renun- 
ciation of the religious control of their parents as well as of former 
religious doctrines and church connections. Many instances of 
the kind have been published. How can Charles have any respect 
for us, whom he now regards as heretics ? — how can he sympathize 
with us after this ? Alas ! we have lost our son ! — and you, 
Amelia, have lost your brother — lost him forever !" 

The tears of the mother, which now began to flow, and with 
which Amelia mingled hers, interrupted the conversation, and 
were, as usual, the beginning of a long but melancholy silence, 
during which nothing was heard but the sighs of the mother and 
the footsteps of the deeply-excited father, who, under great agi- 
tation, hastily traversed the room. '^ How was it possible," he 
thought to himself, '' that Charles, as a well-instructed Protest- 
ant Christian, could suffer himself to be blinded by such falla- 
cies? What poison must they have secretly administered to 
him ? By what religious legerdemain must they have deceived 
him?" 

The religious character of Charles had not been firmly estab- 
lished. Though his father was a good man, yet he had not taken 
sufficient pains to instruct him thoroughly in the essential differ- 
ences between the Protestant and Romish systems of faith. He 
lived in a section of the country where Romanism did not prevail, 
and where there seemed to be no occasion to enlighten the minds 
of his hearers on the subject. Charles's obligations to his own 
church were not deeply impressed on his mind, and he was sent 
into the world completely unfurnished with weapons to resist the 
allurements of vice or superstition. Fortunately, he avoided the 
former, but he became entangled in the snares of the latter. He 
was a sort of dreamy, philosophical Christian ; he would some- 
times settle down in religious melancholy; his mind was harassed 



ROMANCE. 13 

by apprehensions and doubts, and then he would yield himself 
entirely to the deep emotions waked up by his music and mistake 
them for the experience of true religion. 

It was in this state of mind that he was invited to exercise his 
art in a different sphere. 



CHAPTER 11. 

ROMANCE AND CONVERSION. 



It has been stated that the ladies' school in the vicinity was 
provided with a competent teacher of music. This man died after 
a few days' illness. What was the president of the institution to 
do ? The instruction could not be interrupted, and some weeks 
would elapse before another teacher professing the Romish faith 
could be procured. The young ladies became impatient at the 
bare suggestion of intermitting music for the remainder of the 
session, for their tuition-bills had been paid, and, besides, they 
were anxious to improve in the art. They had seen the hand- 
some young teacher in the village, and some of them remotely 
hinted at the expediency of employing him in the school until 
, another could be engaged. The president remonstrated. ^^What V^ 
said he, ^^ a young man ! — a handsome young man ! — an unmar- 
ried, handsome young man in our school ? — it will never do ! and, 
worse than all, a Prot — '^ He here suddenly interrupted him- 
self, for some of his pupils were of the Protestant faith. But 
this only urged the young ladies to greater importunity, and the 
good Father had no rest, and was compelled to employ Charles as 
teacher of music, for a few months at least. 

He cheerfully accepted the offer, and entered on his duties 
with confidence. Various inducements led him to this resolve, 
not the least of which was the hope of now enjoying the occa- 

2 



11 THE CONGLIIiT. 

sional society of a young Italian lady, who was a subordinate teacher 
of music and of drawing in the seminary, and with whom he had 
frequently exchanged significant glances on the street, growing 
out, it is presumed, of similar tastes and pursuits. 

On her arrival at the place, a year before, she had stopped for 
a day at his boarding-house in the village, until her room in the 
seminary could be prepared. One summer-day Charles was in 
his own chamber, profoundly absorbed in an abstruse work on 
music, when his attention was called to another direction. A full, 
rich soprano voice warbled forth, in enrapturing tones, a favorite 
Italian song from a neighboring room. Charles's soul was all on 
fire. An enthusiastic musician alone can appreciate his feelings. 
He listened to those ravishing strains with ecstasy, which so well 
accorded with the emotions of his own heart that, unintentionally, 
he gave utterance to them in a well-directed and perfectly-con- 
ducted tenor. For a few staves this unpremeditated concert was 
carried on without faltering. Suddenly the invisible soprano 
ceased; but Charles continued. There was a sympathizing chord 
struck in her heart, and she resumed her song, though in sub- 
dued voice, until it was concluded. Thus these two strangers 
mingled their feelings in the language of music, without ever 
having exchanged words. 

At the tea-table there was nothing more than the most distant 
recognition, as the landlady introduced the stranger to the board- 
ers in general. It so happened, however, that Charles was seated 
opposite to her; and it was remarked by others that he held 
his teacup much longer to his lips than was necessary to empty 
it, and that his eyes were elevated considerably above its edge ! 
In his frequent observations across the table, more than once did 
he encounter a pair of full-orbed, lustrous Italian eyes, which sent 
a quivering feeling to his heart and made his young blood rush 
violently through his veins. 

That evening yet she transferred her residence to the semi- 
nary, and Charles saw her only occasionally on the street, when 
she came to do her shopping at the village store. 



TEMPTATION. 15 

It was probably the hope of seeing this lady occasionally that, 
above all, prompted him to accept the offer. 

Behold him now established in the school. A new world as it 
were opened to his view. For appearance' sake he attended mass, 
and on great festival occasions lent the charm of his violin to the 
music of the choir. It was here too that he encountered the 
Italian lady. Necessarily, there was some conversation in the 
arrangement of the pieces, and this soon led to more familiar 
interchange of words. When she was not engaged in the choir, 
her devotion among the ordinary worshippers impressed him 
deeply, and he concluded that the religious system embraced by 
such a paragon of perfection as he began to conceive her to be, 
ought to be, if it were not, divine. Every thing he saw affected 
his mind and strangely attracted extraordinary attention. The 
gorgeous ceremonies of the church moved him ; the priests in 
splendid vestments — the pictures of saints — the kneeling crowd 
— the elevation of the host — the devout nuns — the rich music 
— the glittering altar, — all excited pleasurable feelings, and he 
thought himself edified by the attractive spectacle. Not to ap- 
pear singular, and probably also for the purpose of gratifying 
Giuletta 3Iarchi, the Italian lady, he also knelt and kissed the 
cross, dipped the tip of his finger in the holy water as he entered 
the church, and submitted to other Romish practices, so that he 
was no longer distinguished from those around him. 

To his astonishment, nothing had been said to him about his 
faith. But it did not long continue so. The history of the saints 
and legends in the pictures which he admired was not yet known 
by him, and he found it necessary to ask for explanations, which 
were very obligingly and zealously given to him. He thus re- 
ceived the first accurate information of the historical traditions 
of the Eomish church, and of their connection with her doctrines, 
ceremonies, and organization. Incredible and curious as much 
of what they said in illustration of their pictures and other works 
of art appeared to him, and though much, especially in the 
legends of the saints, was offensive to him, yet he began gradu- 



16 PROGRESS. 

ally to regard these things with a less unfavorable eye. The con- 
fident assurance with which they related the most incredible sto- 
ries, as things which no man doubted, did not fail to produce 
upon him the usual impression. Belief is contagious, like unbe- 
lief. When men constantly hear the same thing, and hear it 
uttered in full confidence, they become inclined to regard it as 
true and to mistrust their own judgment. 

Charles was a creature of imagination and feeling, and he 
often permitted his fancy to sway his judgment. He yielded to 
delusions of this kind when his reason secretly reproved his de- 
cision. He gradually became better prepared to receive the most 
wonderful stories as true, for they operated upon a set of feelings 
which were developing themselves more strongly every day. He 
began to invest religion with a sort of poetic dress, and to regard 
it as a matter not of pious practice, but of food for the imagi- 
nation. He indulged that disposition, for it created emotions of 
a pleasurable kind ; and this, more than any thing else, prepared 
him for the step he was about to take. 

His melancholy and religious sentimentalism did not abandon 
him, but they were rather nourished by his pursuits. The con- 
tests and self-mortifications and temptations of the saints, whose 
pictures he saw, operated powerfully on his easily-excited feelings. 
He wished to be a saint, to live in a cell, to practise the deepest 
self-denial, to be attacked by the great enemy of mankind, to 
repel his assaults, to be distinguished for piety, and then his 
name would blazon in the calendar and his person and deeds be 
recorded on canvas for some artist to study and copy. He ar- 
dently longed for some one to converse with on this subject, — 
some sentimentalist like himself, who would encourage him in 
his determination and flatter him into its vigorous prosecution. 
Full of tender sensibility and what he mistook for genuine re- 
ligious ardor, he was in a proper frame of mind to be captivated 
by pompous religious display, to be dazzled by gorgeous ceremo- 
nials, and to be deluded into the belief that profound emotion in 
a magnificent cathedral was religion, and the performance of a 



THE ATTACK. 17 

splendid churcli-service, to wliich music and painting and stat- 
uary lent their charms, was piety. 

He did not wait long. Father Colbert was the officiating priest 
of the house. He and Charles soon became friends. The priest 
had explained to him many of the legends which the pictures 
illustrated, and it was perfectly natural that he should hold forth 
the legends of the saints and martyrs as genuine history. Charles 
could not reasonably take offence. Colbert had not yet even 
mentioned the Protestant faith ; yea, he even pretended not to 
know that Charles was a Protestant ; — only gradually and very 
cautiously did he mingle religion with his conversation, and, in 
several expressions which appeared quite incidental, he set forth 
the most advantageous side of Romanism. Charles, in the be- 
ginning, contradicted nothing, because he did not wish to wound 
the feelings of his friend ; but gradually this fear vanished, and 
he made objections, which were very few, indeed, for he had 
never been instructed in the differences between the confessions. 
This contradiction Colbert was waiting for, for now he had an 
opportunity, without appearing urgent, of making his inex- 
perienced friend intimately acquainted with all the peculiarities 
of Eomanism, and of exhibiting all the grounds which would 
most powerfully affect his unfurnished mind. The seed did not 
remain without fruit. Charles felt more and more that his faith 
would not hold out against the profound arguments of his friend. 
He gave up one point after another, and it proceeded so far that 
the thought really occurred to him that here he had first found 
the true church. The priest soon saw through the undissembling 
youth, and now first uttered a few words about a change of eccle- 
siastical confession. It was not hard to convince Charles that a 
change of confession was a conscientious duty if we have hereto- 
fore lived in gross error, and this was the basis on which Colbert 
continued diligently to build. He now ventured to express his 
serious apprehensions for his friend, because he was not in con- 
nection with the true church, — to let him see the ecstasy which 
the remotest thought of his return to the true church would 

2* 



18 DOUBTS NOT DANGEROUS. 

create within him, — and finally, to express this thought as the 
most earnest desire of his heart. 

Unable as he was to withstand the arguments of the priest 
in their conversations on the advantages of the Eomish church, 
still a certain something — a secret feeling of the great importance 
of the step which Colbert urged him to take — restrained him. 
But this gradually vanished as he reflected on the subject. He 
at length told his friend that for a long time he had been 
harassed by doubts about his salvation, and admitted his per- 
plexed state of mind generally. 

The wily Jesuit took advantage of the unsuspecting youth, 
and, instead of aiming at removing his doubts, only magnified 
them the more. 

^^AhT' said he, in an aficcted tone of sympathy, ^^it is true. 
We cannot expect our faith to be always equally strong, and it is 
a very uncertain thing; for the human mind is not every day the 
same, and a doubt which a man with the best disposition cannot 
avoid may destroy all our confidence, and consequently the sav- 
ing power of faith. But we Catholics,'^ he added, as though in- 
cidentally, ^^ cannot be disturbed by such doubts ; in the midst 
of the most perplexing doubts we are yet perfectly certain of 
our salvation. But, young man, some penitents are waiting 
for me in the confessional, and we will resume this subject to- 
morrow.^' 

" Oh, sir V exclaimed Charles, ^^ explain that to me, for it is 
these doubts of my salvation which now so cruelly torture me V 

^' To-morrow V^ added the priest, and retired. 

The mind of Charles was disturbed, and he passed the night 
in a fearful conflict with himself. 

The next day Colbert sought the first opportunity to continue 
the conversation. With the most winning smile, accompanied 
with a compliment on his performance at a musical soiree the pre- 
ceding evening, he began by asking, with assumed forgetfulness, 
what it was that Charles had requested him to explain. 

" You said,'' replied Charles, ^' that you Catholics are entirely 



A DISCUSSION. 19 

certain of your salvation, though you may have perplexing 
doubts. I wish that explained. ^^ 

^^Oh yes ! I had almost forgotten V^ he observed. ^^Well, I 
shall proceed. We Catholics have every thing good belonging to 
the Christian religion which you Protestants have. We have, as 
you, the Bible, which we esteem as the original fountain of all 
Christian knowledge. You have the ancient creeds, we also. You 
have baptism and the Lord^s supper, we also. You teach the 
mystery of the Trinity, the incarnation of the Son of God ; you 
believe in original sin, and in the condemnation of all men on 
account of sin, and in their deliverance from this condemnation 
by the sufficient sacrifice of the God-man ; and all this we also 
believe. Then, what you have we have also ; but we have more 
than you, and hence you are not certain of your salvation, be- 
cause you have rejected some things. 

^^What things?'' asked Charles. 

^^All that we have in addition,'' said he. 

^^And that is — " continued Charles. 

"Young man," obsei^ed the priest, "let me proceed to tell 
you. The Catholic church, as a benevolent mother of the faith- 
ful, and aware of the infirmity of men, has not made the opera- 
tion of propitiatory exercises dependent on the faith of the laity, 
(which, as you yourself complain, is so uncertain,) but on the 
power of the priest and the nature of the propitiation itself, 
which promotes salvation ex opere operato, as we are accustomed 
to say — that is, of itself, whether the Christian accompanies it with 
right faith or not. Hence the Catholic need not trouble himself 
about the question whether he has enough of faith or the right 
faith in order to obtain justification before God. It is sufficient 
that the priest absolves him, — that he offers the sacrifice of the 
mass for him. Upon the same ground, the Catholic church has 
not connected reconciliation with God with the internal act of 
faith, but with external actions, which, when they are only pro- 
perly performed, assure the poor sinner of his justification." 

Here Charles could not avoid interrupting him, and observing, 



20 A DISCUSSION. 

thougli modestly^ ^^I cannot argue these questions with you; but 
all this is directly contrary to what I learned from Luther^s cate- 
chism. I there learned, and I think it was proved by Paul, that 
we are justified by faith without the works of the law/' 

'^Please do not interrupt me now/' continued the priest. 
^^You Protestants have only the Lord's supper, which you cele- 
brate three or four times a year ; we have the daily sacrifice of 
the mass for all sins, the confession and absolution, indulgencies, 
and a whole series of good works, as fasting, the Angelic Saluta- 
tion, Aves Maria, Pilgrimages, Sacred Places connected with in- 
dulgencies, and the like. Hence the Catholic Christian lives in 
happy contentment and security about his eternal salvation. 
Whatever scruples he may have, whatever sins he may commit, 
if he only avails himself of the confessional, of the mass and in- 
dulgence, all his sins will not endanger his salvation. The hu- 
man heart is weak and wavering in faith and virtue ; hence it is 
necessary for man to ground his salvation on something more firm 
and unchangeable than internal faith, and to have something 
which will aid him in his weakness. For this weakness the 
Protestants have no remedy, but we have.'' 

Charles felt that this method of salvation was precisely adapted 
to his mental condition. ^^ I may then throw the responsibility 
of my salvation on the priest ! I need not feel any particular 
anxiety about it myself, if I only comply with the prescribed 
ceremonies of the church ?" he eagerly inquired. 

^' Most certainly!" replied Colbert. ^^The church assumes all 
that. She has made provision for our infirmities; and herein con- 
sists our advantage over you." 

In this way Colbert sought to convince Charles that he would 
be a very happy and contented man if he would avail himself of 
the numerous propitiatory means which the Catholic church 
affords the Christian. After this idea had taken root in Charleses 
mind, he proceeded further, and began to show to him that in 
the Protestant church there is nothing but confusion, uncertainty, 
infidelity, and error ; that it is not a true church ; that it has no 



THE CONQUEST. 21 

valid priesthood and no effectual sacraments. It was easy to 
convince him of this after he had once begun to believe the 
contrary^ — namely, the exclusive truth of the Catholic church. 
It was only the result of his defective religious education ; for, as 
was before observed, he had never been instructed in the dif- 
ferences between the two churches, and, of course, had not been 
furnished with arguments against the errors of Kome. He could 
not withstand the wily priest, who, taking advantage of his igno- 
rance, easily infused into his mind these pernicious tenets. 

Finally, convinced that the Eomish church was the only true 
one, and which alone by the efficacy of her sacrifices could assure 
him of justification before God, a short time before his return 
home he went over to that communion and uttered his renuncia- 
tion of Protestantism in the presence of Colbert and a crowd of 
curious spectators. The Te Deum was sung, and there was great 
rejoicing over the restoration to the true fold of Christ of this 
wandering sheep. 



CHAPTER III. 

RETURN HOME — GIULETTA. 

Charles communicated this immediately, with all the ardor 
of a new convert, to his father, and hoped he would justify the 
measure when he had heard his son state the reasons of his con- 
version. He would have acted more considerately, however, if, 
before taking so important a step, he had consulted his father or 
some other intelligent friend. But Colbert earnestly advised him 
not to do it, and said that it would only excite the opposition of 
his parents, and that his conversion to the true and only saving 
church would only thereby be rendered more difficult. Charles 
suffered himself to be persuaded. He did as many apostates do; 
he solicited no counsel from a sensible man. He had such great 



22 RETURN HOME. 

confidence in his own judgment that he thought he stood in no 
need of the advice of others. The priest had explained the 
grounds so clearly that he felt confident he could defend them 
against any opponent, and he even indulged the secret hope of 
converting his parents also to the true and infallible church. 

He flattered himself with this confident expectation the more 
because his father did not express any disapprobation in his 
answer. He insisted; however, upon his immediate return, which 
Colbert earnestly tried to prevent, and even said that disobe- 
dience to parents, when salvation is concerned, is a meritorious 
act. But Charles determined to obey his father's command. 
Respecting his conversion, his father only said a few words to this 
amount : — that they would speak of that when he should arrive 
at home, and that he hoped Charles had not become a Romanist 
from impure motives. As he was not conscious of that, he com- 
menced his journey homeward full of confidence and joy. 

His mind was elated for some hours after his departure, for he 
had a pleasant traveling companion; but his spirits began to 
droop more and more the nearer he approached his home. Dis- 
pleased at himself that his heart now began to fail, especially as 
he could find no cause of uneasiness in his understanding, (for he 
was not conscious of having done wrong,) he again went over the 
whole ground of argument by which Colbert had persuaded him 
to become a Romanist, and thereby sought to gain the necessary 
confidence of conviction by which he might suppress that emo- 
tion of heart which harassed and humbled him. This contri- 
buted somewhat to his relief, but not enough. His heart began 
to beat again with unusual violence the nearer he approached 
home ; and he at length found the most effectual source of con- 
tentment in the confidence that he was so dearly loved by his 
parents that, even if he failed in convincing them of the pro- 
priety and sincerity of his conversion, yet that they would kindly 
extend their indulgence to him. But, to be better prepared to 
meet the objections which he expected would be made, he tar- 
ried a few days at a watering-place on the way, and employed 



GrULETTA. 23 

this season of rest in writing down tlie reasons of his conversion, 
which were only so many accusations against the Protestant faith, 
that he might study them in their connection and impress them 
more deeply on his mind. 

The arrival of the son was anticipated by the family at home 
with no very pleasant sensations. They were ashamed of his rash 
and precipitate act^ and they experienced a certain feeling of 
mistrust against the proselyte^ and a painful uncertainty whether 
the internal man had not also changed with his confession of 
faitb, and whether he could now sustain to them the old familiar 
relation in which they all formerly rejoiced. 

In his letters to his sister he had depicted the character, 
person, abilities, and accomplishments of Giuletta in such lively 
colors, and declared, moreover, that there was such a striking re- 
semblance between the two, that a strong curiosity was awakened 
in the pastor's family to see this Italian paragon. An invitation 
followed for her to accompany Charles home at the next vaca- 
tion, and thus his secret design was accomplished. 

The lady had not been long in our country, and had seen little 
of the interior. At first she hesitated. 

^' Will it be proper for me to travel with an unmarried man V 
she asked herself. In her state of doubt, she referred the matter 
to her father confessor, who advised her to go, after giving her 
special instructions, and a private letter to a priest in the vicin- 
ity of Charles's home. 

An intimacy of I'ather a delicate character had sprung up be- 
tween these two young persons. How could it be well avoided ? 
Similar tastes and pursuits, — daily intercourse in giving lessons 
to the same pupils in music, — frequent consultations about the 
musical services of the chapel, — besides the manifest encourage- 
ment given to this growing intimacy by the president and other 
teachers of the school, — all tended to increase the attachment, 
though neither was aware of the extent it had reached. Charles 
loaned the lady books out of his own small collection, and she 
always selected English books, that she might improve herself in 



24 A DISCOVERY. 

the language. He also sent piles of music to her room, that 
she might select appropriate pieces for her pupils. One day she 
discovered between two pieces of one of these piles a thin volume 
which seemed to have lain there, unused, a long time. She 
opened it, and read, on the title-page. The New Testament of our 
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Her curiosity was awakened. 
She read it, though with trembling, for she was aware of the in- 
terdiction of the Protestant Testament, which she knew this to 
be. She read more and more, and, quite unaccountably to her- 
self, felt a growing interest in the book. Zealous papist as she 
was, and abhorring all heresy, yet she was singularly attracted by 
the simple recitals and solid instructions of the volume. 

With respect to religion, Giuletta knew no more than her 
teachers, the priests in Naples, had taught her. As for herself, 
she had read the Romish catechism and an Italian translation of 
the decrees of the Council of Trent, and thus, for a private person, 
was a learned Romanist. Her teachers had done every thing in 
their way to make her a good Catholic. She believed that no person 
could be a Christian who did not hear mass, keep the fasts, pray 
the pater-noster, receive the priest's absolution, and humbly be- 
lieve every thing which the church commanded one to believe. 
The priests had particularly excited within her such an utter ab- 
horrence of all heretics, that she was agitated with fear whenever 
she met one in Italy. The clearest of all truths to her was, that 
Grod looks upon heretics with anger and abomination, that they 
are under the dominion of the devil, and that they are devoted 
by him to everlasting damnation. Her fancy had pictured 
a wonderful representation of those heretical countries where, 
according to her expression, ^^ faith ends and the dominion of 
the devil begins.'' Hence, she was at first doubtful whether she 
should accompany Charles, and only finally determined when she 
heard that there were also Catholic churches and priests there, 
who were zealously engaged in the difiusion of the true faith. 

They travelled together slowly, and the more frequently they 
stopped, the more agreeable to both. The slightest excuse was 



SURPRISE. 25 

sufficient to induce a halt of a few hours or a day at any country 
village. G-iuletta highly extolled the beauty of the country, its 
prosperous agriculture, substantial buildings, and contented popu- 
lation. Yet, in her girlish inexperience and ignorance of our 
country, it appeared strange that in these delightful regions she 
had thus far seen no monk, and very seldom a priest, while in 
Eome and Naples they are met at almost every step. She ex- 
pressed her surprise, and was evidently much confused when she 
heard that these prosperous farms were the possessions of heretics. 
Charles was too much occupied with himself to observe the agi- 
tation of his friend. As they proceeded on their journey and 
continued to see finely-cultivated fields, a prosperous and moral 
people, and yet saw no priests, monks, images of saints, or mon- 
asteries, the theology of Giuletta was not equal to this remark- 
able circumstance, and she was utterly at a loss what to think of 
the evident smiles and blessings of Providence upon these here- 
tics. She could not reconcile this apparent contradiction. She 
at length took courage to open her mind to Charles, and said, 
'' You are a good Catholic, and hence do not doubt that the 
Catholics alone can be saved and that all heretics will be cursed. 
For they have not the true faith, no true sacraments, no true 
worship; their preachers cannot efi'ectually absolve ; they reject 
the vicegerent of Grod and of Christ, the holy father, and are 
therefore rebels against Christ and God ; they are beset by the 
devil and are led by him into all error and wickedness ; heresy 
is the mother of all licentiousness. All this is very certain, for 
the holy church teaches it, and she cannot err. And yet I see 
these heretical countries abundantly blessed of God, more exten- 
sively and beautifully cultivated, more populous, their population 
better clothed and sheltered, and the houses more numerous and 
commodious than those of the dominions of the holy father. How 
can God be so favorable to these accursed reprobates V 

Charles here suddenly interrupted her by directing her atten- 
tion to a squirrel scampering across the road and then nimbly 
ascending a neighboring tree until it reached the topmost bough. 



26 A DILEMMA. 

'' Thus/' said he, ^' from earth upward to the highest elevation I 
excelsior let our motto be !'' 

'' Yes/' replied the lady, '' as far as I have observed, that \b 
the destiny of your country — upward ! upward ! but, alas ! my 
own beloved Italy, — with its glorious sky, its balmy atmosphere^ 
its luscious fruits, its fertile plains, its world-renowned arts^ 
— how poor, how wretched, in comparison ! Here I observe 
good order, good morals, public security, industry, and general 
prosperity. Here I scarcely see a single beggar, while with us 
they besiege every street ; here men know nothing of robberies 
and assassinations, while with us they are very common. Oh, 
tell me, how is this possible ? So much I see, that in this coun- 
try a false and pernicious faith prevails, but the people are hon- 
est, while with us the true faith prevails, and the people are not 
remarkably moral. Were I not so good a Catholic, I would be 
tempted to believe that these people also have religion, and that 
they cannot be worse than we. Signer, say, how do you account 
for this r' 

Charles gave an evasive answer. He looked on her with aston- 
ishment. This speech was quite unexpected, for until then the 
lady had been reserved in the expression of her opinions on re- 
ligious subjects. But they related to a point upon which he 
himself had not meditated, and to which he was unable at the 
moment to make a reply. '' God is also merciful to unbelievers P' 
he finally stammered out, with considerable reluctance, ^Hhat 
they may have time and room for repentance.'' 

But he felt very sensibly how unsatisfactory this reply was ; 
and he was almost alarmed at the thought of what he should re- 
ply to his father, were he to ask the same question. He included 
this question among his present investigations, but found that 
the more he reflected upon it the less satisfactory was his answer. 

Giuletta suffered herself to be put off with this reply, but she 
was not satisfied. This double contradiction constantly revolved 
in her mind : — heresy is an abomination in the sight of God and 
all heretics are condemned, and yet God blesses them ; they are 



IN CHURCH. wf 

cliildren of Satan, and yet they are moral, upright, honest, and 
prosperous/' 

They passed the Sunday in a small village, and not because 
either of them had any scruples about travelling on that day ; but 
Charles had some relations there, whom he wished to see ; and, 
besides, frequent stoppings and long delays suited their tastes 
precisely. 

On Sunday morning Griuletta heard the sound of the church- 
bell, and was on the point of falling on her knees, as was her cus- 
tom at home, but was interrupted by several children rushing 
boisterously into the room. She had forgotten she was not in a 
Romish country, 

Charles had gone on a country excursion with some acquaint- 
ances, and Griuletta took a stroll through the village. She passed 
a church when the bell was ringing for Sunday worship ; she 
took courage to follow the multitude, and, for the first time in 
her life, she entered a heretical church. It is true that her fa- 
ther confessor had, before her departure from the school, forbid- 
den this as a giievous sin ; but her curiosity to see heretics at 
their worship was too strong to be resisted, and she hoped to be 
absolved from this at the next confession, even if she were 
obliged to undergo some severe penance, for, as a good Catholic, 
she was determined to confess it. 

She entered shyly and timorously, just like one who is about 
to commit a heinous sin. There was no consecrated water there, 
that is so efi*ectual in driving away evil spirits from the faithful, 
and none of those who entered availed themselves of that wonder- 
ful preservative from diabolical influence so powerful in the 
Romish church. ^^The unhappy people!^' thought Giuletta, 
^' how can they escape the temptations of Satan without the holy 
water ?^' She looked round upon the walls and pillars, but there 
was no saint, and not even the Virgin Mary, to be seen. '' The 
deluded heretics!'' she sighed again, '^to whom do they pray? 
for they have neither saint nor the Mother of God." It also ap- 
peared very strange that none of those who entered bowed down 



28 A STRANGE PLACE. 

before the altar ; but^ as sbe approached nearer, she saw that there 
was no pyx containing the body of God. '' Alas, the poor crea- 
tures V^ she thought again, " how can they receive grace when 
they have no sacrifice V^ She already began to repent that she 
had mingled with a congregation without holy water, without 
saints and pyx, for without these it appeared to her to be little 
better than a heathen assembly. In the mean time the service 
commenced, and the earnest singing of the whole congregation, 
which she heard here for the first time, and the simple beauty of 
the tune, deeply engaged her attention. Of the portion of Scrip- 
ture read she understood very little ; but the next hymn which 
the congregation sung made a deeper impression on her mind 
than the tones of the hired singers in the papal chapel, and she 
could not refuse the friendly ofi"er of a neighbor who handed to 
her a hymn-book. She read, and the congregation sung, — 

*' Mistaken souls, that dream of heaven, 
And make their empty boast 
Of inward joys and sins forgiven, 
While they are slaves to lust!"* 

^^Is this also true ?^^ thought she to herself; ^^or have the 
heretics only fancied these things to console themselves, knowing 
that they have not the true faith V^ She was soon to hear more 
than this. The sermon commenced and treated this very sub- 
ject : — that without holiness no man can be a true Christian, and 
can have no claim to salvation, however orthodox and zealous he 
may be in works of external devotion. She was all ear, and the 
longer she heard the more attentive she became. The portion 
of Scripture on which the preacher grounded his observations 
impressed her more than the sermon. It was the gospel for the 
eighth Sunday after Trinity, Matt. vii. 15-23 : — ^^ Beware of false 
prophets,'' &c. " The words of the wise,'' says Solomon, (Eccl. xii. 
11,) ^^are as goads and as nails;'' and so Giuletta felt the words of 
the text in her heart, and she finally believed to have found here 

* Hymn 323 in the Lutheran hymn-book. 



IN A DILEMMA. 29 

an explanation of the difficulty wliicli lately harassed her^ why 
in the land of heretics the manifest blessing of God and Christian 
uprightness were so apparent. 

The Savior says (for by degrees this became the general 
course of her thoughts) that sheep's clothing does not constitute 
the true prophet, consequently the surplice does not make the 
true bishop, and the rosary, fasting, and hearing mass, do not 
complete the true Christian. 

The next verse also attracted her attention : — '^ Ye shall know 
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
thistles V^ In reflecting on it, this embarrassing question suggested 
itself : — If true priests are known by the good fruits of a Christian 
life, how much more Christian laymen ? Hence from true Chris- 
tian faith nothing vicious can proceed, and from heresy nothing 
virtuous can come. And yet how comes it that these heretics 
are happy, prosperous, and virtuous ? She was in a dilemma. 

The preacher read another verse : — ^^A good tree cannot bring 
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.' ^ 

An unpleasant reminiscence of her early years now came up 
with terrible force. She was reminded of one of her gay, youth- 
ful companions in Naples, who had told her in confidence that 
she intended to appropriate to herself the jewelry of another com- 
panion, and share the proceeds with Giuletta, if she kept it a 
secret. She disdained the offer, and endeavored to dissuade the 
infatuated girl from the commission of so heinous a crime. 
^* Simpleton I'^ replied she, reproachfully, ^^ my confessor has 
already absolved me from the guilt, before I have stolen the 
jewelry; and if he had not done it some other one would, so 
that I fear no consequence but detection.'' 

That appeared to Giuletta to be evil fruit which showed that 
the tree which bare it was evil also. While she was thinking 
whether a priest had the power to absolve a person from the 
crime of theft, the preacher recited the words of the nineteenth 
verse, and they struck her with peculiar force : — '' Every tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the 

3* 



30 IN A DILEMMA. 

fire/' ^^Is not tlie following exception made/' thought she, 
^^ ^ unless a priest or a papal indulgence absolves him'?'' She 
thought the exception must be made, but she heard nothing of 
it. The preacher from this passage insisted forcibly on the lui- 
conditional necessity of Christian holiness for the attainment of 
salvation. 

Much more deeply did the following passages impress her : — 

'' Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my 
Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, 
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy 
name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful 
works? And then I will profess and say unto them, I never 
knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity."' 

'^ So," said Giuletta to herself, ^^ it is not enough that we 
openly profess Jesus to be the Lord and have the Christian con- 
fession of faith ? not enough to work miracles to be a good Chris- 
tian ? If that is not enough, then it is not enough for the Catho- 
lic church to be the true church, that she alone has the true 
confession of faith, that miracles still continue with her, that 
her priests can banish evil spirits by holy water and benedic- 
tions. If that is not enough, then Lutherans can also get to 
heaven if they lead Christian lives." 

Her mind was agitated, and the alarming thought came up 
unbidden, ^^What if, after all, these people are right?" 

The preacher concluded with a warm and forcible appeal to 
the consciences of his hearers, and exhorted them affectionately to 
cultivate this personal holiness of character, without w^hich all 
profession of even an orthodox faith and the most punctilious 
outward performance of church duties were unavailing to ex- 
hibit the Christian life or to secure salvation. 

Giuletta had never heard such preaching, nor had she ever 
experienced such feelings. Her mind was singularly affected, 
and she could not account for the unusual embarrassment she 
felt. A rigid Romanist she knew herself to be, and yet inter- 



IN A DILEMMA. 31 

ested in this Protestant worship ! — no crucifix, no burning can- 
dles on the altar, no vestured priests, no images, no pictures, no 
holy water : — and yet an unaccountable attraction, a feeling of 
satisfaction and even of acquiescence : — how was she to explain 
all this ? 

She was even more interested in the last hymn than before : — ► 

"So let our lips and lives express 
The holy doctrine we profess ; 
So let our wo^s and virtues shine 
To prove the ooctrine all divine." 

Though her refined artistic taste was somewhat offended at the 
discord of some of those singing around her, and though the 
tune was entirely strange to her at first, yet her cultivated ear 
soon caught it, and she was absolutely alarmed at hearing her- 
self, involuntarily, as it were, singing with the congregation. 

She went home with a disquieted heart. She retired to her 
chamber and instantly took up her New Testament, to see 
whether the preacher had left nothing out of the text. Not 
being familiar with the book, it was some time before she found 
Matthew vii. 15. She thought there must be something there 
which made fasting, confession and absolution, and the rosary, 
essential to salvation, and that the indulgence or the wearing the 
cloak of a penitent monk also protected the sinner from ruin. 
But she found nothing else but the naked words which the 
preacher had read. 

^^Then,^^ thought she, with a degree of ill-nature, ^^the heret- 
ical preacher is right ! but how can that be when the church 
teaches differently, and she cannot err? But he certainly has 
the words of the Savior on his side. Which is now more in- 
fallible, — his words, or the decision of the church ? Can the latter 
be more infallible, when she receives all her doctrines and infal- 
libility from Christ r 

She was evidently in a dilemma from which she could not 
extricate herself. She hoped to be able to solve it after she had 



32 IN A DILEMMA. 

read more of the New Testament; and slie read it more diligently 
than ever. 

It was not long before she had read the whole Testament 
through twice. It was with her as with Luther when in Erfurt 
he first read the Bible;- — she was astonished at the many new 
things which she found, and much more at the many old 
things which the Romish church maintains as essential to Chris- 
tianity, but of which she found nothing in the Testament. The 
old and new things were continually revolving in her mind, and 
often perplexed her not a little. I^ such moments of perplexity, 
when the old had the preponderance in her mind, she occasion- 
ally murmured to herself, ^^It is certainly very dangerous for a 
good Catholic to travel through heretical countries.^' At other 
times, when the new which she had seen and heard and read 
gained the mastery of her thoughts, she acknowledged, with an 
emotion of joy, that she could become a quite difierent spiritual 
being if she dared trust and surrender herself to the new. She, 
felt a strong disposition to communicate her thoughts and feel- 
ings to Charles ; but his moroseness, his short and sometimes 
severe replies, alarmed her and induced her to hold her peace. 
But this also gave her much uneasiness. She saw plainly that 
some deep anxiety oppressed her friend. She also became af- 
fected, and finally asked him, in a tone of sympathy, what it was 
that made him so unhappy, and kept him so silent, when his 
near approach to home ought to enliven him. He was silent, 
and she did not repeat the question. 



ARRIVAL AT HOME. 33 



CHAPTER IV. 
Charles's arrival at home— dare we change our 

CREED ? 

Charles was only fifteen miles from home as one day at 
noon lie entered a village where his mother and sister met him, 
and with tears of joy locked him in their arms. This sincere 
gush of unchanged affection dispelled the gloom which had for 
some time oppressed him. He felt that they still recognised in 
him a son and a brother, and that his change of creed had not 
changed their love. 

Giuletta was introduced and kindly received. She was over- 
joyed at the affection displayed for Charles. 

He was now inspired with the hope of meeting his father 
without even a look of displeasure on his part, although he im- 
mediately observed that his father had not accompanied them. 
The apology of the good mother, that pastoral duties had prevent- 
ed Mm, was only a pretence. He could no longer be sincerely 
pleased with his son ; he could not altogether suppress his deep 
mortification ; he was determined to let the son feel that he had 
alienated himself from his father's affections, and hence he did 
not go out to meet him. He had anticipated something of this; 
and it became more certain when, after the first gush of joy, a 
silence and interruption of the conversation occurred between 
him and his mother, which was very painful to them both. It 
was evident that there was one point between them which needed 
explanation, but which each was reluctant to introduce. But 
genuine affection does not long endure such reserve ; they came 
to an explanation, and Charles consoled his mother with the as- 
surance that he was the same loving and dutiful son, and prom- 



34 A DISCUSSION. 

ised that lie would faithfully and honestly lay before his father 
the whole ground of his conversion, by which he would be con- 
vinced that neither a disordered fancy, nor inclination to mysti- 
cism, nor any other dishonorable motive, had induced him to 
embrace Romanism, but grounds reasonable and deeply matured, 
which the father himself could not but justify. The mother 
thought that the latter was hardly to be expected, but consoled 
the son by saying that much already would be gained if he could 
convince his father that he had acted honestly. With a light- 
ened heart, he proceeded home with his mother and sister, and 
fell upon the bosom of his dear father, who received him with 
friendly composure. The conversation of the first few hours re- 
lated to the subject of his absence and the changes that had taken 
place in the vicinity during his absence; but in the evening, 
when the family was sitting together alone and mutual con- 
fidence restored, Charles himself introduced the subject of his 
conversion; for he felt more courage in the immediate presence 
of his amiable father than he did at a distance. 

^^ Dear father,' ' said he, ^^ you will doubtless look upon your 
son with suspicion because he has gone over to the Romish 
church ; you are perhaps displeased with me, and I cannot com- 
plain of that, for I know your principles. I feel it my duty 
faithfully to state the whole case, and I hope that you will kindly 
hear me, that on this point there may be a correct understanding 
between us.'' 

^Q expect such a disclosure from you, my son, and I am 
pleased that you have commenced the subject, for I should have 
felt it my duty to demand it of you. I do not deny it," he said 
with earnestness, '' that your course has erected a partition-wall 
between you and me which must be broken down before our 
hearts can be united as formerly." 

^^ I hope to be able to reconcile you, father, if you only hear 
me attentively and judge impartially." 

^' You can expect both of me, my son, and the more certainly, 
for we will not speak of this subject unless your mother and sister 



A DISCUSSION. 35 

are present ; for they have as good a right as I have to know the 
grounds of your apostasy ; — yes, I am constrained to call it apos- 
tasy!'^ And the distressed father walked hastily up and down 
the room. 

'' In the general/^ continued Charles, ^^ you would not blame a 
man for leaving one Christian church and joining another. I well 
know that it is a principle strongly maintained, that it is not 
allowable for a person to change his confession of faith; that 
every one should remain in the church in which he was born and 
educated, and to which he promised fidelity when he was first re- 
ceived as an adult member. But I never could justify this prin- 
ciple in its full extent. I willingly admit that a man is under 
the same obligations to the church to which he belongs as to the 
state in which he was born and brought up. Only unfeeling, 
unreasonable, and bad men can leave their own church from mere 
grounds of selfishness or aggrandizement. But it is not meant 
that a man under all circumstances is to remain in the church 
with which he is connected ; for we are all sacredly bound to 
follow the truth, as the Savior says, ^He that is of the truth 
heareth my voice !' Now, if my church has departed from the 
truth, and I find that another church has been faithful to the 
truth, then I have good grounds to leave my church and go over 
to the other.'' 

" Do you mean to intimate, sir, that the Lutheran church has 
departed from the truth V^ exclaimed the father, in a tone of ex- 
citement. 

^^ Father, dear father, hear me patiently!'^ entreated Charles; 
and he continued : — " For, however thankful every one should be 
to his own church for the first instruction he received within her 
pale, yet it is not to be denied that we do not exercise any choice 
in our original connection with the church ; we feel attachment 
to it because our parents do, and have no other grounds of pre- 
ference ; and even if persons are admitted to full communion at 
an early age, they generally do not know why they join that 
church rather than any other. Is this promise made so young to 



36 A DISCUSSION. 

be forever binding ? Even wben we see tbat we were in error, 
sball we continue to walk in that way wbicli we bave discovered 
to be wrong, merely because we walked in it as cbildren and 
continued in it to mature age V^ 

^^But suppose/^ said the motber, ^^we bave found ourselves 
bappy in tbis way, — and millions of otbers walk in it and are 
bappy also ? and wben we see parents and friends, wbose under- 
standing and piety we bonor, walking contentedly in tbis way?^' 

^' You tbink, dear motber, tbat I am speaking of tbe lawful- 
ness of going over from tbe Protestant to tbe Catbolic cburcb. 
I am not speaking now of a cbange of one good cburcb for an- 
otber, but of tbe liberty of cbanging our confession of faitb in 
general, and my remarks will also apply to tbe Catbolic wbo 
goes over to tbe Protestant cburcb/^ 

^^It is so, my dear wife,^^ observed tbe fatber, wbo bad be- 
come composed. ^' In general, tbe cbange of one confession for 
anotber cannot be regarded as unlawful or immoral, and tbat po- 
sition wbicb some maintain, tbat be wbo wisbes to be an bonest 
man must remain in bis own cburcb, is utterly groundless. If 
it were correct, tben Jesus and bis apostles could not bave 
abandoned Judaism, tbe first Cbristians could not bave forsaken 
beatbenism, our German ancestors could not bave turned from 
tbe worsbip of Wodan to tbe service of tbe true God, and our 
fatbers of tbree bundred years ago could not bave separated from 
tbe Romisb cburcb. Abrabam went out from bis idolatrous 
country, from bis fatber's bouse, and in a strange land served 
God, who made tbe beavens and tbe eartb. Besides, tbe trutb 
is so sacred a tbing tbat we sbould never, at least in religion, 
sacrifice it to circumstances.^^ 

^^ Your examples, fatber,^^ interposed Amelia, ^' witb tbe ex- 
ception of a single one, relate only to conversion from a religion 
altogetber false, as beatbenism was, or from a corrupt one, as 
Judaism, to true religion or Cbristianity, and are not applicable, 
as it appears to me, to an excbange of one Cbristian cburcb for 
anotber. Here we bave in eacb cburcb — I mean tbe Protestant 



A DISCUSSION. 6i 

and Catholic — baptism and the Lord's supper, the same Bible, 
the same Christ, the same God. If, then, both churches have 
the^ essentials of Christianity, the other smaller differences do not 
appear to justify the leaving of one for the other, but every one 
should continue in connection with the church to which he be- 
longs/' 

^^Ah! I perceive. Since you are betrothed to the minister, 
you also have become a lady theologian; but proceed, and we 
shall see whether you will be able to write sermons for your hus- 
band,^' playfully observed the father. 

*^ Dear father, I will cheerfully submit to your teasing, as it 
shows a happy heart under these trying circumstances ; but allow 
me to proceed. You yourself have taught me that a wife who 
does not see all perfection in her husband, or discovers unex- 
pected faults, and observes more amiable qualities in other men, 
could not be justified in separating from him, but must continue 
faithful to him, bear with his faults, and only look upon his vir- 
tues. I should think that every one bore a relation somewhat 
similar to his church, as a wife does to her husband. Every 
church has its imperfections, but also* its good qualities. It can 
demand inviolable fidelity. '^ 

'' 1 wish, Amelia, that your intended husband were present,'^ 
rejoined the father; "he would be pleased with your objection. 
As respects your comparison, it is not at all applicable to the 
case, but is lame, like most comparisons. You should have 
added that the obligations of married persons to boar the faults 
of their partners have their bounds ; for instance, when one party 
no longer performs the promised duties and no longer fulfills the 
object of matrimony. So long as your husband keeps his pro- 
mise, so long you are bound as his wife faithfully to obey him 
and to observe your vows, even if another man pleases you better. 
If he commits a fault inadvertently, then you must forgive him, 
for you also may have faults which will require his indulgence. 
If, however, he designedly neglects his duties and outrages all 
matrimonial obligations and decent propriety, he then himself 

4 



38 A DISCUSSION. 

dissolves the bond which held jou to him, and the laws will an- 
nul your obligations. It depends upon yourself whether you are 
resolved to endure his conduct, remain with him, and perform 
the duties of a wife ; you thereby do no injury and commit no 
fault against a third person, for you are not under obligations to 
any other man/' 

" Father, you say yoUj you; are you delivering this lecture on 
the law of divorce for my benefit ? Do you apprehend that I shall 
have occasion to take advantage of it V^ asked Amelia, with an 
arch smile. 

" You naughty child ! I see you are paying me back for my 
joke with you,'' kindly replied he ; " but it is too serious a mat- 
ter to trifle about. Let me proceed. But quite different is your 
relation to the church. Christianity has a fixed and high object 
in view, and the church is established for the purpose of accom- 
plishing this object in every individual man. If it is so consti- 
tuted that it not only does not hinder, but promotes this object, 
and guides its members to the attainment of it, then it is a good 
church, for it affords what it promises. Then men must remain 
fiuthful to it, even if it has faults and imperfections, — ^just as 
you, dear Amelia, are bound to be faithful to your husband, if he 
performs the duties of a husband, even if he has many imper- 
fections." 

" I hope my husband will not have many imperfections. If 
he has any^ I have them yet to discover," said the daughter, with 
affected gravity. 

'' You betrothed young ladies can think and speak of nothing 
but your intended husbands, I verily believe !" responded the 
father. 

' Dearest father ! did you not start the subject ?" she retorted. 

^^ Yes, but I did not intend that it should never stop. Well, 
then, I hold," he continued, ^^ if a church is so constituted that 
it does not promote the object of Christianity in individuals, and, 
moreover, if it has doctrines, customs, and an organization, which 
oppose this object and prevent its attainment in the minds of its 



SOUND ARGUMENT. ^ 39 

members, then you are not at liberty to remain in connection 
with it, as you are at liberty to continue with your husband from 
whom you could be lawfully separated. You are much rather 
bound to dissolve your connection with such a church, for here 
you have duties to perform toward a third person, who has com- 
manded you to do this/^ 

^^ Who is this third person ?'' asked Charles. 

^^ There is more than one/' he replied. ^^The first is God^ 
who in Christ has sent you a guide to perfection, whom you are 
bound to hear. You are not allowed to be satisfied with any 
thing less than perfection. The husband at the altar does not 
bind himself to exhibit all the perfections which the imagination 
of his bride may demand of a man. For how could he know 
what wonderful picture of masculine perfection the tender heart 
of a sentimental girl has created ? But here you know that we 
are to be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect. You dare 
not be satisfied with any thing short of it ; the church dare not 
substitute any thing else in place of it; but it should be ^a glo- 
rious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish.' Eph. v. 27. Then 
you dare not retain your connection with a corrupt church, as a 
wife may continue with a bad husband.'' 

^^ Charles," said the mother, '' do you feel the force of your 
father's argument?" 

The young man nodded reluctantly, but said not a word. 

The father looked on his apostate son with an eye of compas- 
sion, and continued : — ^' The third person toward whom you have 
duties to perform is your Savior himself: the church is his 
property, and that the church might accomplish the object in 
view he sacrificed his life. He is the invisible Lord, the supreme 
head of his church, and he cannot acknowledge any communion, 
as his church and a true church, whose doctrines and rites op- 
pose the design for which he was sent of God, even if that com- 
munion does call him Lord." 

The father paused a moment, and no one else uttered a word. 



40 SOUND ARGUMENT. 

He took a turn or two around the room, and proceeded : — ^^ But 
again : this third person is yourself. For in a corrupt church you 
can hardly be a true Christian, well pleasing to the Savior; and if 
from your superior illumination you might possibly be, yet it is 
immoral to expose yourself continually to the dangerous and cor- 
rupting influence of such doctrines and rites, which may lead you 
from the path of true Christianity. You are morally bound to 
flee from such temptations, and to inform and strengthen your 
better judgment; so for your ovm sake you are bound to leave 
the corrupt church and unite yourself with the purer. '^ 

Charles betrayed some excitement at these words, and was 
waiting with evident impatience to speak ; but he did not inter- 
rupt his father. 

" That third person,^' continued he, " is, finally, your fellow- 
Clirhtlan. \yhile you remain connected with a church which 
opposes the design of Christianity, you encourage others to per- 
severe who know not how to resist its evil influence ; you con- 
tribute to the support of a pernicious system ; you prevent the 
spiritual prosperity of your brethren, and commit treason against 
true Christianity.^' 

Here he ceased, and took a seat. Charles rose, with a confident 
air of triumph, and, advancing toward his father, said, " Dear 
father, you have expressed my sentiments precisely ! Oh, how I 
am cheered by these words ! I hope to be able to prove to you 
that the Roman Catholic is the true church, which promotes the 
object of Christianity; but the Protestant church opposes it. At 
least, this is my firm conviction, supported on substantial grounds. 
And when I have laid them before you, and you are brought to 
acknowledge their force, oh ! then, dearest father '' 

Interrupting him sternly, the father said, ^^ I must follow you, 
and also become a Catholic V^ 

Charles was silent. He felt that the inference was natural, 
but, not daring to confirm it, only remarked that he hoped to re- 
ceive forgiveness of his father. 

The father did not let him off so lightly; he rather gave a 



THE AGREEMEiNT. 41 

direction to the subject which made the young man tremble. 
'^ If you/' he said solemnly, " are an honest man and a Christian, 
and we prove to you that the Romish church opposes the design 
of Christianity, you must abandon her communion and return 
to ours V^ 

Charles was reluctantly silent. 

^^ Promise me/' — continued the father, extending his hand, — 
^^ promise me that you will do it, if I am to believe in the 
sincerity of your Catholicism and not to regard you as a hypo- 
crite.'' 

Charles took courage. He grasped his father's hand and so- 
lemnly promised. He was certain of his opinions; he was a 
Romanist from conviction. Why should he be apprehensive ? 

^^ With this agreement," said the mother, '' let us close the 
conversation on this subject, and devote the remainder of the 
evening to amusement." Father and son willingly expressed 
their consent, — the former only upon the condition that Charles 
would prepare himself to bring forward his arguments for his 
church against Protestantism the next evening. The numerous 
visits, however, which he received and paid, prevented the ful- 
fillment of his promise until the third evening. 

During this conversation, Giuletta was silent, but was deeply 
interested. Several important questions occurred to her^ but 
she did not venture to ask them. 



4* 



42 A DISPiiNSATION. 



CHAPTER V. 

GOING TO CHURCH — THE LATIN LITURGY, 

It was Sunday morning, and tlie parents and Amelia were 
preparing to go to church. Politeness led them to invite Griu- 
letta to accompany them, and they were surprised and delighted 
to see her readiness to go. Charles also made preparations, and 
the mother secretly rejoiced at it. It was not so with the father. 
He was silent, but his stern countenance too plainly discovered 
that his mind was deeply disturbed. Finally, as they were about 
to depart, and Charles reached after his hat, the father asked, 
^^ Do you intend to accompany us ? to go with us to church ?^^ 

^^ Yes r^ said he; ^^I hope that you will not disapprove of it/' 

^^ I think it exceedingly strange, my son. You regarded us as 
so grossly erroneous in our religious opinions that you separated 
from us, and yet you will go with us to church ? So jou will do 
a thing which you know to be wrong ? And is it not directly 
against the principles of your church to enter a heretical place 
of worship ? Is it not forbidden by your priests ?'' 

^^That prohibition,' ' said Charles, with great confidence, ^^does 
not affect me, for I have received a dispensation, and have per- 
mission not only to go to Protestant churches, but also to cele- 
brate the Lord's supper with them, and to observe all their 
church rites.'' 

^^ Silence, sir!'' cried cut the father, with great violence; 
'^ silence, and stay back ! You cannot, you dare not, enter our 
church so long as you hold us as cursed heretics and our wor- 
ship as cursed heresy. No man can give you authority to act 
the hypocrite and deceiver, and none but a paltry fellow would 
make use of such permission." 



HYPOCRISY. 43 

Charles stood confused, ashamed. He remained behind. The 
mother wept. The devotion of the day was lost to the father. 
The abominable examples of secret Catholics, who, with the papal 
permission, for so many years played the part of Evangelical 
Christians, occurred to him. He thought of King Charles the 
Second of England, who repeatedly and publicly vowed fidelity 
to the English church, and yet, after his death in 1685, it was 
made evident that for a long time he had been a Romanist. He 
thought of the Saxon crown-prince Frederick Augustus, the son 
of Augustus the Strong, whom they secretly made a Catholic in 
Italy and gave him permission to conceal it from 1712 until 
1717; he thought of the permission given to Frederick, the 
crown-prince of Hesse-Cassel, to conceal his conversion from 
1749 to 1754. He remembered how the Duke Moritz William 
of Saxony, administrator of the Protestant institute Zeitz, was 
secretly converted to Romanism, in 1715, by the Jesuit Schmelt- 
zer, who insinuated himself into his favor under the title of a 
secretary of legation, and how he concealed it, even from his * 
wife, and continued to manage the institution for two years. 
How could he have forgotten more recent examples of this kind ? 
For instance, that of the Duke of Stolberg, who, as late as 1798, 
appeared a zealous Protestant in a pamphlet which he wrote, and 
yet, in 1800, publicly avowed that he had been a Romanist for 
seven years? And that of the court-preacher Stark, of Darm- 
stadt, who performed the duties of an Evangelical minister until 
his death, but during his life secretly published a defence of the 
Romish church and an attack against the Protestant, and after 
his death was buried in the Romish graveyard ? And that of 
Mr. Von Haller, who, in a letter to his family, himself acknowl- 
edges that, in 1820, he was secretly admitted into the Romish 
church by a Romish bishop in a private country-house, but that 
a dispensation was granted him to continue externally a Protest- 
ant Christian, and a member of the council of his native town, 
which is sworn to maintain the Evangelical faith ? This same 
Mr. Von Haller confessed in that letter that the apostate Duke 



44 HOPE AND FEAR. 

Adolphus of Mecklenburg-Schwerin assured him tliat there are 
many secret Romanists in Germany and other countries, who are 
allowed the liberty of concealing it from the people. 

To find Charles in the society of such men, whose conduct he 
regarded as contemptible hypocrisy or at least as unpardonable 
weakness, was exceedingly painful to him, although it was no- 
thing more than what he might have expected, since he knew 
so many instances of the kind. He was so much excited that 
he could pay little attention to the services of the church — for on 
that day a stranger occupied his pulpit. His dark and troubled 
eye was steadfastly fixed on the floor; only once he looked up 
toward the congregation, and he observed Giuletta listening most 
attentively to the sermon. This gave his mind another direction. 
^^ Perhaps,^^ thought he, ^' the seed of truth will be sown in the 
heart of this young lady, which will produce good fruit V^ and 
he could not conceal it from himself that it would have been 
much better if he had permitted his son to accompany them to 
church. He recollected how Amelia had apologized for the con- 
duct of her brother, by maintaining that he never would have 
been unfaithful to his church, if he had remained in the bosofn 
of his family and had enjoyed the privileges of Protestant wor- 
ship. He felt the force of this observation so strongly, that he 
regretted his vehemency, and with a tranquil mind he returned 
to his son. 

^' Charles,^' said he, ^^ I was wrong in forbidding you to attend 
our church. The sick man must not be prevented from going to 
the physician. I have nothing against your being present at our 
worship ; I rather wish it. But do not mention the dispensation 
again. To worship God in a proper manner and to hear his word 
cannot be authorized by any man, because no man has a right to 
forbid it. He who believes that such permission is necessary plainly 
shows that, instead of being a servant of God, he has become the 
slave of men. What is the object of your pope's dispensation ? 
Either it is right and good that you worship God with us, then 
you need no permission ; or it is improper and injurious, then 



APOLOGY AND DEFENCE. 45 

the bishop or pope has no right to give it to you^ and, if he had, 
you have no right to make use of it/' 

Charles rejoiced that the tranquillity of his father's mind was 
restored, and, in apology, only remarked that he regarded the 
prohibition to visit any other than Catholic churches only 
as a disciplinary regulation ; that the Catholic church only thus 
cautions her members not to expose their faith to danger, and 
that a dispensation from this did not appear to him improper. 
The father thought that Charles's opinion of this subject was 
utterly erroneous, and that, according to the principles of the 
Romish church respecting heresy, such a permission could only 
be compared to that which a general gives to his spies, — occa- 
sionally to wear the uniform of the enemy and to mingle with 
them as friends, but only for the purpose of deceiving and en- 
snaring them. But still he thought, though his son was in error, 
yet he acted from the purest motives. 

The mother, who had been deeply pained at the vehemence of 
her husband, was now the more gratified at the reconciliation. 
Desirous of changing the subject of conversation, she asked Giu- 
letta, who just then entered the room, how she was pleased with 
the Protestant worship? " Oh !'' she exclaimed, with Neapolitan 
ardor, " I was exceedingly well pleased.'' 

^^ And why?'' 

^^ Because I could understand it," said she. 

^^And that is because you have learned the language of our 
country?" she asked. 

'' I do not mean that, but because here the worship is not per- 
formed in Latin, as with us, but in the language of the country," 
replied the lady. 

" You are certainly joking, dear miss ! How could worship be 
edifying to the people if it was performed in a language which 
they did not understand ?" 

'' Giuletta speaks the truth, mother," said Charles. ^^ In the 
sacred services, particularly the mass, the church retains the 
Latin language, partly because it is rendered sacred by the high 



46 LATIN WOBSHIP. 

antiquity of tlie ritual, and partly because it is better suited tc 
tbe holy m^'steries. The people would only be disturbed in their 
devotion if the ritual were celebrated in the language of the 
country, and they would have less reverence for the holy 
mysteries, which though they do not understand^ yet they 
can feel their sanctifying power. Hence, the church does not 
allow the worship to be conducted in any other than the Latin 
language/' 

^MYhat language, my son, did the Savior and the apostles 
use, when they taught and instituted the mysteries V^ asked the 
father. 

'^ Certainly the language of their country : — that of Palestine, 
or perhaps the Greek, which was very commonly spoken by the 
people,^^ replied he. 

'' And in what language did the Christians of the early centu- 
ries celebrate their religious service V 

" I cannot deny,^^ replied Charles, ^' that every congregation, 
used the language of the country in which it was located : — 
the Greeks the Greek, the Latins the Latin, the Syrians the 
Syriac.'^ 

"You see, dear Charles,'^ continued the father, "that Chris- 
tians had a right to hold their worship and celebrate the sacra- 
ments in their mother tongue. This right we also have. That 
the Western Christians employed the Latin in their worship was 
right, for it was the language of the country; but that the Ger- 
mans, English, and French also use the Latin in worship is a 
manifest perversion and gross impropriety. If ignorance of the 
language promotes devotion, or if any importance is to be at- 
tached to its antiquity, and men attach a sort of sacredness to it, 
then the language of Palestine, or, at any rate, the Greek, in 
which the New Testament was written and the mysteries first 
celebrated, should be employed rather than the Latin. Why do 
they adhere so pertinaciously to the Latin ritual ? Does it not 
appear as though they were afraid that it should be understood 
by the laity?'' 



LATIN WORSHIP. 47 

'^For roy part/^ remarked Amelia, ^^I would not consent to 
be married out of a Latin ritual, for I would not know whether 
the priest was marrying or divorcing me. I should think that 
that which is unintelligible cannot awaken devotion. Would a 
person ignorant of English be more deeply moved if he saw an 
English representatioi of Hamlet and Macbeth than if he wit- 
nessed the performance of those master-pieces in a language 
which he understood ?^^ 

In the mean time, Giuletta,- who had suddenly left the room, 
entered with a book, in which she was hastily turning over the 
leaves. It was the New Testament. Charles was startled at 
the sight of it, for he recognised it as his. ^^I have here,'^ said 
she to Charles, " I have here found a passage which makes me 
doubtful whether our priests do right in holding their worship in 
Latin. Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth, in his first 
epistle, (ch. xiv. 2,) ' For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, 
speaketh not unto men, but unto God : for no man understandeth 
him; however, in the spirit he speaketh mysteries; but he that 
prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, 
and comfort.' (v. 6.) ^Now, brethren, if I come unto you speak- 
ing with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to 
you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or 
by doctrine r (v. 9.) ^So likewise ye, except ye utter by the 
tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what 
is spoken? For ye shall speah into the air J (v. 13.) ^Where- 
fore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he 
may interpret,^ (v. 19.) ^ Yet in the church I had rather speak 
five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might 
teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.' 
The apostle, dear sir, certainly understood the matter well, and I 
know well that he was right; for the English worship edified 
me much more than the Latin mass, which I do not under- 
stand. '^ 

Charles was taken by surprise. They all asked her where and 



48 A FAMILY DISCOURSE. 

liow she had procured that book. Giuletta related the whole 
story of findiDg it among a pile of music loaned her by Charles 
at the seminary. The parents^ particularly the father, were 
pleased with the sound understanding of the young lady, and 
exhorted her to read the word of God diligently. 



CHAPTEH VI. 

A FAMILY DISCUSSION. 



The evening gave occasion to recommence the conversation on 
the subject of the change of Charles's religious principles. The 
father reminded them that they had agreed to proceed at once to 
the main point, and discuss the question in what relation the 
Evangelical as well as the Komish church stood to the design of 
Christianity. They seated themselves socially at the table, and, 
before the conversation began, the mother secured the son against 
any probable ebullition of the father's passion. ^^Look upon 
your son,'' said she, ^^not as an apostate from our church, but as 
a Komanist from his birth, whom you desire to conveii; to the 
Evangelical church.'' This idea, the father also thought, would 
create tenderness and patience in his heart, which was already 
well disposed, and at the same time it awakened the hope, as he 
expressed it, that Charles would again find in his father's house 
that understanding which he had lost in the seminary. 

They all soon agreed that the object of Jesus was to be the 
Savior of men; for this his very name — ^Jesus — implies. They 
also ao:reed that he became a Savior of men in redeemins; and 
delivering them from sin. For thus they read, in Matt. i. 21 : — 
'^And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name 
Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." But when 
they discussed the question hoic Jesus became a Savior, and tvhat 



DESIGN OF CHRIST. 49 

must take place in tlie hearts of men to secure this salvation, 
then they differed. After a long conversation, they agreed to 
adhere to the declaration of the apostle Paul, for he certainly 
must have known what effect Christianity was intended to have 
on the heathen to whom he preached it, and in what manner 
Jesus was to become to them a Savior. He thus writes, (Tit. ii. 
11-14 :) — ^^The grace of God (in Christ) that bringeth salvation, 
hath appeared unto all men ; teaching us that, denying ungodliness, 
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the 
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; 
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all ini- 
quity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
works. These things speak and exhort.^' 

The parties agreed that here the apostle represents Jesus as a 
Savior not only from the punishment of sin, but that he reforms 
men, and redeems them from the service of sin; and that his 
object — consequently the object of Christianity — was to lead men 
to a knowledge of God and his law, to excite them to the obe- 
dience of that law, or to virtue, and to secure for them, as thus 
reformed, the grace of God and eternal life. 

^^This is,^^ said Charles, ^^ precisely the doctrine of the Catho- 
lic church, and thus far it agrees with that of the Evangelical 
church. But I maintain that, in order to accomplish this object 
in the case of individual Christians, just such an institution as the 
Catholic church is necessary, and that, on the other hand, this 
object cannot be fulfilled by means of such an organization as the 
Protestant church presents. The peculiarities of the Catholic 
church, which determine this matter, and in which she prin- 
cipally differs from the Evangelical, are the following: — In her 
alone redemption can be found, for she was instituted by Christ 
and the apostles, and, consequently, is the true church; she alone 
possesses the means of an infallibly correct knowledge of Chris- 
tian doctrine, — a legitimate and valid priesthood, and therefore 
regularly consecrated and lawfully appointed to teach and ad- 



50 EASY METHOD OF SALVATION. 

minister the sacraments; a legitimate arbiter of eliurcli govern- 
ment, (the pope;) and means of grace not dependent on tlie state 
of tlie mind in order to secure to believers tbe forgiveness of sin 
and eternal salvation. Hence, she alone can fulfil the object of 
Christianity, and redeem men from sin.^' 

^' You say a great deal at once, dear Charles,'^ said the father. 
^^We will consider it hereafter. I grant that your church has 
very many means to release men from the punishment of sin, but 
I maintain, that, for this very reason, she is altogether incom- 
petent to deliver them from the dominion of sin. As she is con- 
tinually absolving men from punishment, she does not wean them 
from sin, but rather encourages them in immorality.'^ 

^^But the Catholic church demands penance and contrition 
of all who desire to receive the benefit of her means of grace/' 
observed Charles. 

^^I know that well enough,'' said the father; ^^but men are not 
yet thereby reformed. If a sinner does not perform the promised 
penance, but continues to sin on, can he again be absolved if he 
goes to confession?" 

^^ Certainly, if he again promises penance," replied Charles; 
^^for the holy Council of Trent teaches, very expressly, (in the 
14th session,) ' Sinners can be absolved by the priest not only 
once, but as often as they penitently go to him.' " 

^^But if he does not reform, and, although often absolved by 
the priest, sins on until his death, will his last confession on his 
death-bed, and the last absolution, or extreme unction, secure 
salvation for him?" asked his father. 

"Undoubtedly. Herein consists the extent of priestly power: — 
that they, so long as body and soul are not separated, can yet 
bring the sinner into a state of grace," said the young man. 

"Then you grant, my son, that your priests absolve the iinre- 
formed. Then, if a man, though often promising reformation, yet 
never reforms, can be assured of the pardon of God and eternal life, 
through the repeated absolution of the priest, until his dying hour, 
it follows that reformation is not necessary to eternal life, but 



Rome's way of salvation. 51 

only occasional advice on tlie subject. In my view, this is pre- 
cisely as if the masters of a trade would certify that a certain man 
was a traveled journeyman who ten times pretended to set out on 
his tour but always turned back at the gate of the city.'' 

'' But, dear father, God also forgiyes as often as the sinner re- 
forms, and the example of the thief on the cross shows that sin- 
ners can receive pardon even on a dying bed, if they feel sincere 
contrition. So the Catholic priest only forgives those who truly 
repent, for the Council of Trent says expressly (14th session) 
that the penitent must exhibit ^a proper state of mind.' " 

^^The sincere penitent, according to the Scriptures, will cer- 
tainly never find the way of grace closed against him," said his 
father. ^^But the difi'erence is this: that we direct him to the 
inf^dlible God, the searcher of hearts, and tell him that sorrow 
for sin which proceeds merely from fear of punishment is not 
true and evangelical repentance, and cannot be acceptable to God, 
but that alone which arises from an internal hatred of sin, 
exhibited in abandoning sin, is well pleasing in his sight; but 
you direct the sinner to a fallible priest, who cannot see the heart 
or know whether that ' proper state of mind ' exists, or at least can 
only be assured by the word and behavior of the penitent, and 
yet absolves, which, as you think, is so powerful that it will be 
always valid before God. Protestant ministers do not pretend to 
forgive their sins, but only declare to them the divine promise 
of pardon, console them by the assurances of the grace of God, 
only upon the condition, however, of sincere repentance. But, 
with you, the efficacy of absolution, as well as of all the sacra- 
ments, depends not on the moral character of the Christian, but 
on the power of the priest; and the service operates, as you say, 
ex opere operato, — that is, if it is only performed." 

^^That is a great advantage of Catholic absolution : — that its effi- 
cacy depends on the priest and his service, and not on the moral 
character and disposition of the penitent. The priest demands 
the external evidences of repentance. If he sees these, he absolves^ 
and, if he absolves, then it is efficacious," said Charles. 



52 ENCOURAGEMENT TO SIN. 

^^ You perfectly establisli what I said/^ replied tlie father. ^^ In 
order to be saved^ you require nothing more than a mere verbal 
acknowledgment of sin, or the ^external evidences' of ^a proper 
state of mind/ upon which this efficacious absolution always fol- 
lows. The journeyman need not even buckle on his knapsack nor 
go beyond the city gate, but only repeatedly promise that he will 
travel, and it is just as good as if he had traveled. This is very 
convenient for persons of high and low degree, who indeed wish 
to die happy, but also wish to spend their whole lives in dissipation. 
In what sense, then, does your Catholic church redeem men from 
sin? She forgives your sins without end, and falsely secures you 
from i\iQ punishment of them in eternity, without it being at all 
necessary that you should be delivered from the dominion of sin. 
You can tranquilly indulge your lusts and desires all your days; 
the priest who carries the keys of heaven will without fail unlock 
the gates for you in your dying hour. Do you not see that thus 
the genuine reformation of men is really superfluous, and that 
your church does not promote the object of Christianity, which 
is, first to reform men and make them new creatures in Christ 
Jesus, and then only to promise them forgiveness and eternal 
life? Is it not plain that the Eomish church is an institu- 
tion which delivers men not from the dominion of sin, but 
rather lulls the consciences of sinners to sleep, and yet, after all, 
by the power of the priest, conveys the most depraved to heaven ? 
Do you think there is any thing great and efficacious in this 
priestly power? No, no, my son; it is destructive of all morality !'' 

^^ I must freely grant that the Catholic doctrine of the efficacy 
of priestly absolution and the sacraments may greatly tend to 
encourage the sinner in transgression; but yet we also insist 
strongly on Christian reformation,'^ said he. 

^^But all that will be fruitless,^' continued the father, ^^if the 
sinner believes that the priest can at any time forgive him all, 
and that his absolution must be acknowledged as valid by God. 
Thus most manifestly you make God submissive to the priests, 
whose declarations He must obej^, even when they absolve men 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO SIN. 53 

wliom Grod's rigliteousness could not absolve, or wlien they refuse 
absolution to men whom the grace of God would certainly for- 
give. It is truly foolish, and shocking at the same time, that in 
your church men teach and believe that God has surrendered his 
judgment into the hands of fallible priests, who have to contend 
with their own passions, and yet who, according to their own 
contracted views and the ever-changing emotions of the human 
mind, can bestow grace or invoke wrath, and, consequently, 
eternal salvation or everlasting misery, upon their brethren. 
Forgiveness is a transaction between the divine love and the 
heart of the sinner. The sinful priest dare not interfere between 
them, and prescribe to the love of God whose sins should be for- 
given and whose should be retained. This is superstition, in 
which God is made an idol, which draws away the heart of the 
sinner from God and fixes it upon man, the priest.'^ 

^•In this your father is perfectly right, dear son,'' said the 
mother. *^ Oh, listen not to the voice of a priesthood which would 
prescribe rules and usages to the divine righteousness, but hear 
the voice of the Savior and his apostles, who promise no man 
admission into the kingdom of heaven who is not truly reformed 
and leads a pious life. Does not your Savior say, (John iii. 3,) 
^Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God' ? and does being ^born again' mean confessing to the priest 
or undergoing penance ? Hear how the apostle Paul explains 
this new birth. He says, (Eph. iv. 21, &c.,) ^If so be that ye 
have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in 
Jesus : that ye put off concerning the former conversation the 
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and 
be renewed in the spirit of your mind , and that ye put on the 
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness.' The apostle Peter also, whose successor the pope 
pretends to be, demands of Christians the reformation of their 
whole life, and is not satisfied with contrition and penances. 
^ As obedient children,' he writes, (1 Pet. i. 14,) ^not fashioning 
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but 

5* 



54 ERRORS REFUTED. 

as he whicli calletli you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of 
conversation.'^^ 

^' But, dear mother/^ answered he, " the Catholic church in- 
sists equally as much as the Protestant on true holiness of life. 
She only maintains that Christ gave to the priesthood the power 
of absolving sinners so soon as they manifest contrition. For 
the word of the Lord, (John xx. 23,) which he spake to his dis- 
ciples, certainly empowers the priesthood, who are the successors 
of the apostles, to forgive or to retain sins. ^Receive ye the 
Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto 
them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.^ Or 
is it not plain enough when the Savior says, (Matt, xviii. 18,) 
^ Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall 
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth 
shall be loosed in heaven' ? Here there is no escape ) here you 
must unavoidably acknowledge that the priesthood has the 
power of unlocking heaven and delivering men from the pun- 
ishment of sin.'^ 

^^You are altogether wrong, my son,'^ said the father. ^^As 
it respects the latter passage, the sense is plain enough from its 
connection with the two preceding verses, 15-17, in which the 
apostles are instructed how they shall act, not when they hear 
confession, for that they did not do, but when they had conten- 
tious and troublesome persons in 4)he church. They were first to 
admonish such privately, and then in the presence of several wit- 
nesses. ^And if he neglect to hear thee,^ (he says in v. 17,) 
^tell it unto the church; let him be unto thee as a heathen man 
and publican. Verily I say unto you, AYhatsoevcr ye shall bind on 
earth, &c.^ Here, my son, ^^ou see plainly that the Savior only 
says that it will be valid before him and his Heavenly Father 
when the church excludes from her communion an unworthy 
and persevering sinner, or again receives him. There is no 
reference at all to forgiveness of sins before God, or to release 
from punishment in eternity, but only to exclusion from or res- 
toration to the Christian communion. '' 



TRUTH ENFORCED. OD 

'^ I see plainly that the connection of the words perfectly jus- 
tifies your explanation of this passage. But how is it with the 
other ? In that^ forgiveness of sins is expressly mentioned/' 
he remarked. 

'' That is true, but it proves nothing for the absolution of the 
priesthood. Even if this ' forgiving sins' is to be understood of 
pardon before God, it still proves nothing for priestly absolution 
in confession/' replied his father. ^*Yvhere does Jesus say in 
this passage that absolution can be received more than once ? — 
that it can be repeated at every confession ? He does not even 
at all say that forgiveness of sins is such an external act, which 
can be repeated at the pleasure of the priest. Vv^ithout forcing 
a meaning, the words can be thus interpreted : — Whomever ye 
pardon for what they have done against me and the kingdom of 
Grod, and re-admit into my church, them will I also pardon. At 
any rate, the passage affords not the least ground to justify 
the repeated absolution of sinful men. For 1 John iii. 5, 6, 
expects and demands of Christians that they sin no more habitu- 
ally, and of course need no absolution : — ^ And ye know that he 
was manifested to take away our sins ; and in him is no sin ; 
whoever abideth in him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath 
not seen him, neither known him.' But the same apostle directs 
Christians, if they sin, not to priestly absolution, but to Christ. 
He thus writes, (1 John i. 9:) ^If we confess our sins, he is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins/ (ch. ii. 1,) ^And if any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, 
the righteous.' Finally, dear son, you must certainly acknowl- 
edge that in both the passages under discussion the Savior is 
speaking to his apostles only, and that, consequently, the power 
which he bestows upon them, whatever be its nature, is only 
jjersonal. That they could confer this power on others — -yea, 
that it is at all communicable — is not established by a single 
word." 

^'But the words of the Savior to his apostles at the last sup- 
per, — ^This do in remembrance of mo,'" — said Charles, ^^ the 



56 TRUTH ENFORCED. 

Evangelical churcli considers as a command to all Christians in 
every age ; why then should not the power of forgiving sins also 
be extended to the successors of the apostles ?^^ 

" Your conclusion is very singular^ my son. It is this : — if one 
command given to the apostles is binding on all Christians, then 
all the other commands are equally binding on all Christians. 
If that were so, why is it that your priests alone forgive the sins 
of the laity ? Then each layman could forgive another, and a 
layman could also forgive the sins of a priest. These words, 
' This do in remembrance of me,^ merely because they were ad- 
dressed to the apostles, would not of themselves afford us any 
ground for the celebration of the Lord's supper. But they do 
constitute a ground, not only because it is the duty of every 
Christian gratefully to commemorate the death of Jesus and thus 
follow the example of the apostles, but also on this account : — 
because we see from the New Testament that the apostles estab- 
lished that ordinance at the same time for all other Christians, 
and that immediately after the death of Jesus, by their direction, 
it was introduced into the churches. But the power of forgiving 
sins, if it were really conferred on the apostles, was in its nature 
not capable of being communicated to all Christians, or any por- 
tion of them. We read not a single word that the apostles 
conferred it on others; and, often as the rights and privileges 
of elders or bishops are extensively mentioned in the New 
Testament, not the slightest intimation is given that they had 
the power, and should exercise it, of forgiving sins. We 
know, moreover, from ecclesiastical history, that confession and 
absolution had their origin in the church penitence^ which those 
who had been excommunicated were obliged to submit to.'^ 

'' And what was that V* asked Charles. 

^^ Those whose lives were irregular,^^ replied he, ^^and gave 
offence to the church, were excluded, and were obliged, if they 
wished to be restored, not only to confess their sins ^uhllclij 
before the whole congregation, but submit to certain penances 
or exhibit external signs of the sincerity of their repentance. 



SECRETS REVEALED. 57 

Thus it was in the early centuries. But as the churches were 
multiplied^ especially when, by the conversion of the emperors, 
Christianity spread through the whole Roman empire at the be- 
ginning of the fourth century, this public confession and peni- 
tence was gradually changed for a private one before the bishop 
and his ministers, and absolution, as well as remittance of the 
penances, followed from these alone. In the progress of time your 
auricular confession grew out of this, and this extended to all 
sins, even the most secret. Absolution no longer referred to the 
pardon of the church, but to the forgiveness of sins before God 
and release from punishment in eternity. This is the origin of 
your confession and absolution; and what the Eomish church still 
maintains concerning the valid authority of priestly absolution is 
altogether an abuse and a wretched imposition. ^^ 

" Pardon me, dear father, if I call into question this account 
of the origin of the sacrament of penance. The holy Council of 
Trent expressly says, (14th session, ch. v. of Penance,) ^As 
secret sacramental confession is recommended with great una- 
nimity by the holiest and most ancient fathers of the church, 
and was practised by the holy church from the heginning, it is a 
calumny when men are not afraid to aver that it has no divine 
authority, but is only a human invention, and was first established 
by the Lateran Council.' ^' 

''In this matter the holy council is undoubtedly in error,'' 
replied the father. ^^I will leave you to read through the writ- 
ings of the holiest and most ancient fathers of the church, such 
as Hermes, Ignatius, Clemens of Rome, Tertullian, Clemens of 
Alexandria, and even the Apostolical Constitutions,"^ and wait to 
see whether you can find a single passage which confirms the 



•^ " The eight books of the Apostolical Constitutions are the work of some 
austere and melancholy author, who, having taken it into his head to reform 
the Christian worship, which he looked upon as degenerated from its original 
purit}', made no scruple to prefix to his rules the names of the apostles, that 
thus they might be more speedily and favorably received," — Mosheiin, cent. i. 
ch. ii. sec. 19. [Ei>.] 



58 ARGUMENT CONCLUDED. 

Romisli auricular confession. They all treat merely of the peni- 
tence whicli the lapsed and the excommunicated were obliged 
to show before the bishop and the other ministers^ and refer the 
words^ ^whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall also be bound in 
heaven/ &c., exclusively to the right of excommunicating un- 
worthy members from the church, and of restoring penitents. 
But they say not a word in favor of the doctrine of your church 
that the priest has power to release sinners from the punishment 
of the future world.'' 

" Very well, dear father ; I will read those works, and will 
give you notice of the result. '^ 

'^ That will be of great benefit to you/' observed the father ; 
^^for you will find that in this point, as well as in many others, 
the oft-repeated confident assertion of the Romish theologians, 
that the ancient church taught the doctrines of the present 
Romish church, is altogether without foundation.'' 

The mother here ventured to express an opinion, which will 
be found sensible and appropriate. 

^^As respects myself," said she, ^^I do not care about your 
learned discussions, but adhere in all simplicity to the declara- 
tions of the Savior and his apostles. In them I have never yet 
read a word about sacramental confession and priestly absolution. 
According to the Scriptures, the justification of a sinner is a 
much more simple aff"air. I nowhere find that God, who, as 
the searcher of hearts, alone can perform the office of an Al- 
mighty Judge, has surrendered it to sinful men, who might 
spare him the trouble of judging and forgiving. The prodigal 
son (Luke xv. 12) simply returns to his father a poor, contrite 
sinner, and prays for forgiveness; and the father receives him 
with open arms, without first having him absolved by the priest. 
And where the Lord describes the judgment (Matt. xxv. 31, &c.) 
which he himself will hold, and will surrender to no priest, he 
only asks ^whether they fed the hungry, gave drink to the 
thirsty, clothed the naked,' but not whether they were absolved 
and anointed with oil before they died. On this word of my 



59 

Lord I rely more securely than upon all tlie indulgences and ab- 
solutions of men.'^ 

'' Your mother has come to the pointy my son. It is certainly 
clear that God cannot resign his office as judge to sinful men, 
who themselves need grace and cannot see the heart ; and that, 
as respects the ' binding and loosing' of the priesthood, it refers 
only to the excommunication and restoration of church members, 
— that is, to their pardon before meti. But it is equally clear 
that the Savior is not satisfied ' that a man at confession should 
be in a proper state of mind, and be absolved,^ but that he de- 
mands the whole life devoted to piety; but nothing more/' 

" I confess that I am at a loss how to answer you,'' said 
Charles. " But do not crowd too much upon me at once. Give 
me time to think of the matter more thoroughly; perhaps it 
will become clearer to me." 

'' With great pleasure, my son ; only seek the truth honestly. '^ 



CHAPTER VII. 

MIXED MARRIAGE — THE CONDEMNATION OF HERETICS WHAT 

IS DEMANDED TO OBTAIN ETERNAL LIFE. 

The next evening Charles acknowledged that he had not yet 
found an answer to the arguments of yesterday, and begged that 
they might, in the mean time, proceed to some other subject. 
The father observed that it would be well if Amelia's intended 
husband (who lived in the vicinity) also took part in these dis- 
cussions ; especially that he might afibrd his aid in those parts 
which related to church history and Biblical interpretation. 
Charles had no objections, but still observed that then the 
parties would be unequal, for he had no one on his side. The 
father remarked that Charles also possessed the advantages of a 



60 WHOM WE MAY MARRY. 

knowledge of tlie ancient languages, of history, and pliilosophy. 
At the same time, lie promised that the young minister would 
only be appealed to when he and the mother found it necessary. 
Charles was satisfied ; and the father sportively asked whether 
Amelia had any thing against it. 

'' I shall be much pleased/^ she replied, " to have an oppor- 
tunity now of forming some idea of the extent of Bernhard's 
learning, for our conversartions have not been of the scholastic 
order. I will only beg, however, that Charles is not to make a 
- Komanist of him ; for then, much as I love him, I would most 
certainly not marry him.'^ 

'' Oh, what intemperate zeal ! Cannot, then, a Catholic be an 
amiable man, and worthy of your affections ?^^ asked her bro- 
ther. ^^Does love inquire about confessions of faith? You do 
not marry the confession of a man, but himself.^' 

" Yes, but, dear brother,^^ she remarked, " because I wish to 
have the whole man, soul and body, his confession of faith is to 
me a very important matter. AVhether men can explain what 
love is, that the philosophers may settle. I know it not. Bern- 
hard told me that an old philosopher was of opinion that the 
soul originally was divided into two halves, which sought each 
other in life, and, when they found each other, united into one. 
This explanation does not appear to me to be wrong, for there is 
such an elective affinity of souls in true love, in which not only 
the hand and ring are given, but also the heart. But a Roman- 
ist and a Protestant soul, if each is faithful to its creed, must 
repel each other; for the former regards the latter as sunk in 
ruinous error, and the latter holds the former as obscured by 
narrow prejudices and filled with a superstitix)us fear of the 
power of the priesthood. How shall they be one ? Either they 
repel each other, or the one draws the other over to its faith. ^^ 

" You contradict all experience, dear sister. In countries of 
promiscuous faith, you also find promiscuous marriages very 
numerous, and they agree happily.^' 

^^That may be,^^ said she. ^^ I am only speaking my own 



WHOM WE MAY MARRY. 61 

sentiments^ according to whicli such a marriage can only be 
agreeable in case one party or both are either irreligious, or in- 
different, or unfeeling, and the marriage only regarded as a civil 
contract, or entered into for the sake of fortune and place, or — • 
and this may often be the case — if the Eomish party does not 
believe all that the priests have established as articles of faith, 
and is in heart a Protestant/' 

^^ But why cannot the faith of both churches be endured in 
matrimony ? Cannot one party leave the other in the undisturbed 
enjoyment of his faith ?^' asked he. 

'^ The Protestant can well think so, but not the Rom^anist,^' 
replied Amelia. " The latter, because your church declares all 
heretics as eternally cursed, cannot cease trying to convert his or 
her Protestant partner to the Eomish faith, and must be sadly 
troubled if this is not accomplished. How can the Romanist 
be one heart and one soul with another devoted to eternal 
misery V^ 

''\ agree perfectly with Amelia,^' said the mother, ^^ especially 
as it respects the education of children. Each party will wish 
to have the children brought up to his or her confession, and 
must wish it if they are true to the faith of their church. It 
will be intolerable to the Protestant party, and an everlasting 
thorn in the heart, if the children are brought up to a blind 
faith, to convictions which are regarded as erroneous, and to 
practices which must be considered as superstitious. Equally 
intolerable must it be to the Romish party if the children are 
instructed in soul-destroying error and led directly down to the 
bottomless pit. There can be no peace there.'' 

" You will not take it ill, Charles," added the father, '[ if I 
also utter precisely the same sentiments. It would be intolerable 
to me if I had a wife who, with superstitious anxiety, would run 
away to mass when she should attend to her children at home; 
who would pray to the saints when she should be thinking of 
God; who would conscientiously tattle to the confessor all the 
secrets of matrimony; who would mortify herself by fasting and 



62 WHOM WE MAY MARRY. 

penance; wlio would regard me as a miserable and accursed 
heretic ; wliom^ as the secret confederate of proselyting priests, I 
would always have to watch, lest the children might be seduced 
to Romanism; with whom, on the Lord's day, I could not go to 
the same church; by whom, finally, I would always be secretly 
tormented about taking care of my souPs salvation, according to 
her opinion, and becoming a Romanist/^ 

^^Oh, dear father,^^ said Charles, ^^ how black you paint this 
affair ! I do not believe that experience would establish your 
positions/' 

^^ That you only say because you as yet have no experience,'' 
replied he. ^^ Only read the Romish writings, and you will 
everywhere find proof that your priests enforce it as a con- 
scientious duty on the Catholic party, in marriage, to bring up 
all the children in the Catholic faith. They absolve no man or 
woman at confession if they do not promise to exert themselves 
to the utmost to lead their children to the Romish church. And 
this is not only done by a few of the most zealous, but by all; 
they are so instructed, they must do it, agreeably to the direc- 
tions of the pope." 

'^ You are certainly wrong in this matter, dear father. In 
that case the father of the Christian world, the pope, must regard 
Protestants not as Christians, though they are his children, yet 
straying, but as heathen, and, as it were, infected with the 
plague." 

'' My poor son, how little you know of your own church ! 
Hear the following, on page 158, from a circular of the former 
pope, dated Feb. 27, 1809, to the French priesthood. ^Several 
among you have prayed me to bestow upon you the power of 
granting liberty to such persons to marry, one of whom acknowl- 
edges the Catholic faith and the other holds to a heretical 
doctrine. But I believe it is known to you that the true 
Catholic church has always disapproved of marriages with 
heretics; for the church abhors them, as my predecessor. Pope 
Clemens XI. ^ said, on account of the great sin and the no small 



AGAINST INTERMARRIAGES. 68 

danger of the soul wliich they occasion ] and almost on the same 
grounds that she has forbidden the marriage of Christians with 
unbelievers has she also discouraged Catholics from marrying 
heretics^ — ^because it is not a pious act. Hence it is very much 
to be regretted that there should be among Catholics any who are 
so led away by shaniefal passion as not to be shoched at such 
marriages^ so highly to he disapproved of which the holy mother, 
the church, has always reprobated and forbidden. For, besides 
the great danger of a perverted mind which the Catholic party is 
exposed to, and that the child ivhich is to he hrought up cannot 
under these circumstances he well enough attended to, it is also 
very difficult to live together in domestic concord without being 
united in faith. ^ Now, my son, what do you think of that?^^ 

" Yery strangely indeed, if it is genuine,^' said Charles. 

^' Certainly it is : no well-read man can doubt it. What the 
pope here says of the discord which is created by these inter- 
marriages is very true; and it should determine a prudent Prot- 
estant not to marry a person of the Catholic faith, because the 
principles of the Catholic party would prevent every thing like 
domestic harmony. You also see from this, my son, that your 
church abhors such marriages, and that the apprehension that 
the Catholic party and the children could not be sufficiently 
guarded against the influence of Protestant principles, induces 
Catholic priests to exert all their efforts in the conversion of the 
Protestant party, or, at least, the children : hence, they are at 
liberty to solemnize such a marriage only upon the condition 
that the children (j/et to he horn) be brought up to the Catholic 
church. This you may learn from a proclamation of the King 
of Prussia, dated March 2, 1819, in which he declared that the 
conduct of the Romish clergy, (in the Rhine provinces,) in requir- 
ing a promise that Catholic persons who wish to marry Protest- 
ants should bring up the children of both sexes to the Catholic 
religion, is not to be allowed.^' 

^^Is all this really so?'' asked Charles, in evident trepidation. 

^^I'li prove it to you,'' said the father, and took from the book- 



64 MIXED MARRIAGES UNHAPPY. 

case an authenticated copy of the document. Charles was con- 
vinced^ and showed evidences of shame. 

The father proceeded : — 

'' This is proof sufficient that, in such a marriage, the Protest- 
ant party can have no peace. You also see that the father of the 
Christian world, as you call the pope, regards us as nothing bet- 
ter than heathen, and infected with a plague, in whose company 
a good Catholic must be ^ shocked^ because of our daring impiety, 
and among whom he exposes his ' soul to no small danger.' And 
what is it that makes us such abominable beings ? Do we deny 
Christ? Do we allow or connive at licentiousness? Do we 
refuse obedience to the government? Nothing of all these! we 
only do not believe in the pope, nor in the power of the priests, 
nor in the seven sacraments, nor in the mass and the efficacy of 
holy water. Is this sufficient ground to regard good Christians, 
who strive after the example of Christ to be perfect in love, as 
worthy of abhorrence, as destroyers of souls, as nothing better 
than heathen? But all this proceeds from your uncharitable 
principles, which irretrievably condemn all to everlasting death 
who do not believe in the pope and the priesthood; and this 
principle your clergy have established only because in it they 
find the surest support of their power.'' 

'' I must confess," said Charles, '' that this rigor of their prin- 
ciples on mixed marriages was unknown to me, and that I do not 
feel inclined to justify them. But as respects the sentence of 
condemnation which the Catholic church declares against all 
Protestants, that is certainly true: she excludes them all from 
eternal salvation, and absolutely recognises no grace for them. 
It was this severe condemnation which particularly brought me 
to a stand when I first adopted the Catholic faith: my heart 
thought oi you. It was equally as impossible for me to condemn 
you as to regard you as condemned." 

'' Oh, my son ! why did you not then think, above all, of the 
instructions I gave you, of the prayers I offered for you when you 
and I knelt down together before Grod ? Why did you not think 



VIEWS CONCERNING SALVATION. 65 

of the blessed Savior wlio died for you — of the church he has 
established — of ' ^ 

^^ Father! father!'^ exclaimed the young man, with emotion, 
^' spare me ! distress not my mind with those youthful reminis- 
cences. Let me proceed. After a long conversation with my 
friend Colbert on this subject, he at length solved the diffi- 
culty which harassed me, and my mind was restored to peace. 
The Catholic church, said he, as the only true church, — the only 
one instituted by Christ, — must hold every other church-estab- 
lishment as false ) and, as the Scriptures teach that only those 
who belong to the kingdom of Christ, or to the church, will be 
saved, she must consequently declare all who are not Catholics 
as damned. But in doing this she only maintains her dignity 
and value. Still, she does not deny that God^ according to his 
grace, may also bestow eternal salvation upon individual Chris- 
tians of other church communions, who are particularly pious 
and zealous in doing ^good. But yet she cannot determine this, 
nor establish it as an article of faith, for it is dependent on the 
extraordinary grace of God. The church does not know what 
God will do ) sli^M)nly knows that, agreeably to the way of salva- 
tion which God has published, he who is out of the church is 
also out of salvation, and this she acknowledges ; the secret 
counsel of God respecting the salvation of men who are out of 
the church she commits to the divine grace, and avoids a posi- 
tive declaration about it, partly because she knows nothing about 
it, and partly because such a declaration would only tend to con- 
firm men in their folly and error.'' 

^^Your objection to the position does honor to your heart,'' 
rejoined the father; ^^but your acquiescence finally in this dis- 
tinction speaks but little for the soundness of your head. Where 
has your church granted liberty for such a private opinion ? 
Whatever your church, or rather the priests, as the lords and 
tutors of the church teach, that you as a layman must believe, 
consequently you must believe that we are all damned ; for this 
your church teaches most expressly. She does not allow any 

6^ 



66 HOV/ TO BE SAVED. 

private opinion ; for that is heresy^ wlien a person maintains any 
opinion which is different from the unalterably-established doc- 
trines of the church. Your friend Colbert deceived you. He 
never would have dared to declare publicly what he told you 
privately. If private opinion is allowed in one^ must it not be 
allowed in others? Could you entertain a different opinion from 
the church on the sacraments, the power of the priests, or pur- 
gatory, without being a heretic ?^^ 

" It is true/^ answered Charles, " that liberty of opinion does 
not extend so far.^^ 

^^Then you see that the professed liberty of thinking what 
you please about the damnation of heretics is only a pretended 
one, which your church condemns and must condemn. The 
Romish catechism says expressly, ^As this is a church (the 
Romish) which cannot err, because she is guided by the Holy 
Ghost, then it follows that all other professed churches are 
guided hy the spirit of the devil, and maintain the r)iost cor- 
rupting errors hoth of faith and practice y^ 

The mother could now no longer restrain her feelings, and suc- 
ceeded at last in getting an opportunity to relieve her mind. 

'' Can you really believe, dear Charles,^^ said she, ^^ that God will 
condemn a man because he rather trusts Christ and his declara- 
tions than the pope, the apostles rather than bishops, the doctrines 
of the New Testament rather than the decrees of your councils? 
Only read how simply our Savior declares what is necessary for 
eternal life. He says, (John xvii. 3,) ^ And this is life eternal, that 
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
thou hast sent.^ Further, (John iii. 36,) ^He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son 
shall not see life.^ And (in ch. v. 24,) ^Verily, verily, I say 
unto you. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that 
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna- 
tion, but is passed from death unto life.' See, my dearest son, 
how consoling this simple word of the Lord is to the Christian. 
He demands nothing else than faith in the true God, in himself, 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 67 

as the messenger of God, and obedience to Ms moral command- 
ments. He nowhere demands faith in the artificial doctrines 
which councils and popes have established, and which the un- 
learned, and perhaps also the learned, cannot understand. It 
has always thrilled me to read (in Acts xvi. 25, &c.) about the 
jailor that came trembling to Paul and fell at his feet, asking, 
^What must I do to be saved ?^ who immediately answered, 
^Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and 
thy house. ^ Either Paul deceived him, or faith in the pope, 
the priesthood, the mass, purgatory, and other things, are not 
necessary to salvation, and your priests condemn us with most 
uncharitable injustice. '' 

^^ Just so, precisely,^^ continued the father. ^^For we believe, 
as you do, in one true God, and in Jesus Christ, whom he has 
sent. Both these doctrines are founded in the Apostolical, the 
Nicene, and Athanasian creeds ; and these our church has also 
adopted, so that in these points we have your doctrine precisely. 
If Jesus (in John xvii. 3) distinguishes these two points as 
those which men must believe in order to be saved, then you 
make Christ a d^eiver, when you would eternally condemn us 
on account of other doctrines which your priests have estab- 
lished. Verily we do not need your affected sympathy, when 
you say that God may perhaps save a few of us by his unrevealed 
and uncovenanted grace. We know certainly that we will be 
saved if we believe in Christ.'^ 

^^I must acknowledge the force of that declaration of Christ,^' 
said the son. ^^But there is something still which prevents me 
from agreeing with you entirely. It impressed me deeply when 
Colbert introduced it. It is this : there can be but one true 
church; that this is the Roman Catholic church, and that, con- 
sequently, salvation can be found in her communion alone.^^ 

^^That subject,^^ observed his father, *^we will discuss when 
we meet again, and invite the presence of Bernhard. In the 
mean time, my son, believe this firmly: that your church does 



G8 IN A DILEMMA. 

not thereby serve the object of Christianity, which in general is 
to make men moral, when she without respect to their moral 
character condemns all who do not believe her doctrines, and 
thus makes salvation depend merely on opinions and the observ- 
ance of certain outward practices/^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OIULETTA — MATT. XIX. 16, 19 — INFLUENCE OF THE CATHOLIC 
SACRAMENTS IN COMFORTING THE MIND. 

The next morning Griuletta and Charles spent an hour, as 
usual, in musical practice, after which she gradually led the con- 
versation to the subject of the Bible, and finally asked him 
whether he had ever read the New Testament. "When he replied 
that he had been acquainted with it from his youth, she expressed 
her great joy, and added that she hoped he would now answer 
several questions which, for some time, had been revolving in her 
mind. " No religious scruples, I hope V^ asked he, with a degree 
of impatience quite unusual. ^^Yes, they are,^^ answered she. 
" I find not a word about so many things which from my youth 
up I have been taught to consider as essential to Christianity, 
that I really am very doubtful whether every thing is true, who- 
ever may have introduced it. You would very much oblige me 
by giving me some information on these points, which you, as a 
gentleman of education, and certainly well-instructed in your 
youth, are so well qualified to do." 

'' You ask too much of me, Giuletta. I was educated in my 
youth for the Lutheran church, and have not long been a mem- 
ber of the Orthodox Roman church. I am myself but a young 
convert ; I am yet learning, and I cannot solve your difficulties 
on all these points." 



IN A DILEMMA. 69 

^^ I well know that you became a Catholic only some months 
ago/^ said Giuletta. " You then made a real leap of it. I have 
all the trouble in the world to continue a Catholic, and I wish 
that you would help me. That you must certainly be able to do, 
inasmuch as all that now disturbs me must have occurred to your 
mind, but which you so easily overcame.^' 

^^Gro, Griuletta, drive these things from your mind, and ad- 
here in pious simplicity to your original faith. '^ 

'' Pardon me, sir ; this good advice you did not follow your- 
self.^^ 

'' There you are certainly right. But I had studied, and was 
therefore well acquainted with the learned controversies of the 
theologians. But you have not had these advantages.^' 

^^ Ah ! since I have several times read the New Testament, I 
do not appear to myself to be as ignorant as formerly,' ' observed 
the lady. '' True, I find some things in it which I do not under- 
stand, because I am not learned ; but the discourses of Jesus I 
understand very well, and I perceive that it is not at all hard to 
learn from the Scriptures what is to be believed and done in 
order to be a true Christian and assured of eternal life. I do not 
at all see why among us the reading of the Bible is forbidden to 
the people.'' 

'^ But how many a one has become heterodox by the reading 
of the Scriptures ! Take good care that you do not fill your 
head with foolish notions !" observed he. 

^^ Heterodox ! does that mean to be foolish in our notions of 
faith ?" she asked. 

^^Not exactly that, but it means to believe difierently from 
the general doctrine of the church." 

^' Then, truly, that has already happened to me. I am hetero- 
dox, as you call it, and for that very reason I want you to clear 
the matter up. But give yourself no uneasiness about my foolish 
notions. I can assure you that the doubts which have occurred 
to me by reading the New Testament do not trouble me, but 
rather that which I have learned from it makes me happier, 



70 A DREAM. 

and, as I think, a better woman. At least, since that time I am 
always in good humor. Have you not observed it V^ 

^^ Well, what have you learned that makes you so happy ?^' he 
asked. 

" But perhaps you will laugh at m.e.^' 
" Then, for once, you were foolish in your faith. ^' 
" Well, if you will have it, then listen ! It is the passage here 
in Matt. xix. 16-19 : — ^ And behold, one came and said unto him, 
Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal 
life ? And he said unto him. Why callest thou me good ? there is 
none good but one, that is, God ; but if thou wilt enter into life, 
keep the commandments. He saith unto him. Which ? Jesus 
said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor 
thy father and thy mother, and. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself.' This passage, sir, has made me very happy. Hear 
how it came : — 

'' It was about two years ago when in Naples we were cele- 
brating the Holy Week and Good Friday. My mind was quite full 
of the sufferings and death of the Lord, and I was so distressed 
and melancholy that I could no longer remain in the streets of 
the city, but went out in a southern direction toward St. Elmo, 
where an extensive prospect of Naples and the sea is presented. 
There I sat down under a tree. All was silent around me; the 
sun was sinking in glorious majesty beneath the distant waves of 
the sea, and the blue canopy of the high heavens every moment 
became darker above me. ^ There,' thought I, ' is the Redeemer 
in his splendor, and no earthworm, Pharisees, or Jewish priests, 
can again obscure his glory or mar his happiness. But where is 
the heaven which received the Savior after his sufferings, and 
whither I shall also go to eternal joy and everlasting rest ?' I 
looked up, as far as my eye could reach, but there were no limits; 
my vision stretched farther and still farther, my thoughts pene- 
trated farther still ; but immensity was there. 

'' I could imagine nothing. My thoughts fled from me. Only 



A DREAM. 71 

an unutterable longing after the life of the blessed remained as a 
deep-fixed sorrow in my soul. The father of light^ the sud^ had 
gone down ; the crimson clouds and sky began to grow pale : gray 
night approached from the east ; the evening star soon glittered 
in the west, brighter, and still brighter, until, like a pure, con- 
secrated lamp, it burned in silvery brightness on the face of 
heaven. ^ May not heaven,^ I thought in my ignorance, ^be 
located in this beautiful star ? The paradise of the blessed may 
well be displayed in such pure, undimmed glory.^ In spirit I 
elevated myself from the earth to this enchanting paradise, and 
wandered under its trees with angels and saints and my beloved 
parents. How happy I felt ! I plucked fi-uit from the tree of 
knowledge, and ignorance and folly fell like scales from my eyes. 
I ate of the tree of life, and felt that henceforth I would not 
grow old; that sickness and death would have no more dominion 
over me; that I would flourish in immortal youth. I was fanned 
by heavenly breezes. I drank of the fountains of salvation. I 
was blessed indeed ; — I forgot the world. It was the happiest 
hour of my life ! But the coolness of the night-dew awakened 
me from my dream and brought me back again to the earth. 
Then it appeared" to me as though I had lost paradise forever. 
I was Eve, as she was driven out of the garden of happiness. 
To return — to return — was the ardent longing of my soul. But 
which way leads thither ? Who will give me security that I will 
find it? ^Ahl' I cried out, in agony, ^if thou, Redeemer, 
didst yet wander on earth, or if I had lived in the days of thy 
earthly pilgrimage, that I might have asked thee, that I might 
have heard from thy lips, what I must do to obtain eternal life !' 
That was, indeed, an inconsiderate desire. I said to myself it 
was foolish. But it clung to my soul, and it was awakened very 
often afterward at the sight of the evening star, just as a longing 
for home at the remembrance of our native land. But see ! in 
the days when the Savior wandered among mortals, a young 
man felt the same longing that I did, and he approached the 
Lord with the question, ^ What shall I do that I may have eter- 



tZ RIGHT VIE^VS. 

nal life V Oh, how I bless the holy evangelist, that he recorded 
the answer which the Savior gave ! Now I also have asked him, 
and he has also directed me : hence it is that I am so happy/^ 

Charles listened with rapt attention to this glowing speech. 
His heart was fired with intense admiration of the fair speaker. 
Usually animated and interesting in her conversation, yet he had 
never heard her express herself in such exalted strains. She 
seemed to be wholly absorbed in her theme, and uttered her 
thoughts with true Italian animation and elegance. 

He was deeply moved, and thoughtfully replied, '' Giuletta, 
I also once looked upon the evening star and felt the same long- 
ing. Why was I not able to find the answer which you have 
found ? I was directed to the church.'' 

She became still more excited. Advancing nearer to him, and 
throwing her whole soul into her words, she said, ^^ To the 
church, to Rome, you need not betake yourself. Believe, sir, 
that Heaven will not continue silent if the heart sincerely asks. 
When I on that evening looked up to the high vault of heaven, 
which encompasses sea and land and stretches into immensity, 
Italy and holy Rome were to me only a miserable clod of earth, 
St. Peter's Church a molehill, and the sacrificing priest a poor 
creature like myself, equally distant from the evening star and 
equally infirm. From him, from him, who came from heaven 
and again ascended to heaven, did I desire to hear how I also 
might reach that abode of bliss." 

^^But why," he asked, ^^had you no confidence in the church, 
which prefigures and visibly represents the invisible church of 
heaven, and to which the Savior delegated the power of securing 
paradise to the faithful by means of the sacraments ?" 

Giuletta all of a sudden seemed to have acquired new energy 
and courage, and she thus proceeded : — ^^ I knew and now well 
know all that the church teaches and promises. But since that 
time her consolations have appeared to me very melancholy, 
richly fraught with fear and alarm. Therefore they could never 
cheer me, but I only became more distressed and perplexed. 



SERIOUS CONVERSATION. 73 

Ah, sir, to the sincere Catholic, who desires to save his soul, it 
is a work of anguish and misery. For only see : — According to 
the Catholic faith, Satan retains us in his power until the priest 
delivers us from him at baptism through the influence of ex- 
orcism. Ah, how great is the advantage I have with my Savior! 
He called little children to him, who were yet unbaptized, kissed 
and blessed them, and said, ^The kingdom of heaven is theirs/ 
and all who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven must become 
as innocent children. But even baptism does not yet secure me 
against the wiles of the devil. The sacrament of confirmation 
must be added, of which the Romish catechism says : — ' It forti- 
fies us against the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the 
devil.' I believe, indeed, that confirmation is good, because the 
church has established it ; but I find in my New Testament not 
a word that Jesus and the apostles confirmed the baptized in 
the same manner that the Roman priests do. But still this pro- 
tection is not sufficient to secure the grace of God arfd eternal 
life. The sacrament of holy confession must now be used at 
least once a year. The Holy Council of Trent says that at con- 
fession the priests are ^judges of sinners and their sins, and in 
the stead of God and Christ.' '' 

^^And pray, miss,'' said Charles, interrupting her not very 
politely, and artfully endeavoring to divert her from the subject, 
" pray, are the ladies of Italy taught the decrees of councils ?" 

^^Yes, sir," said she; '^much more carefully than they are 
taught the Scriptures." 

Charles was fairly caught, and attempted no reply, but merely 
said, '' Proceed !" 

^^ Well, as I was remarking," she continued, ^Hhe priests can 
absolve or refuse, and to whom they refuse it, upon him sin and 
its punishment rest, to him the gate of heaven is closed, and 
baptism and confirmation are of no avail. Ah, dear sir ! confes- 
sion often distressed me exceedingly. I thought, in my simpli- 
city, ^Why has the Almighty God set up a man as judge between 
me and Him ? and that, too, in a matter in which I off'ended only 

7 



74 SERIOUS CONVERSATION. 

Him the Almighty^ and not tlie priest ? why dare He not forgive 
me if the priest should please to refuse me absolution ? He is 
certainly merciful, but only when the priest declares He shall be 
merciful !' Here I was brought to a stand, and I was always 
very sorry to think that the great God held us poor lay-people in 
such low esteem as not to receive our confession nor to judge 
and absolve us himself. But since I have read what our Savior 
says of the prodigal son — how the father received and forgave 
him — all my apprehensions have been quieted. But the misery 
is not yet at an end. For if the priest does absolve me, and I 
begin a new and Christian life, the church still commands me to 
do works of penance in order to appease the divine wrath, such 
as fasting, giving alms, saying prayers, and many other such 
things. '^ 

^' Really, signora,'^ observed Charles, '' I begin to suspect you 
have received instruction from some Protestant minister. What 
has create*d these doubts in your mind V^ 

'' I have never conversed with a Protestant minister, until I 
came into your father's house,^' she replied. ^^No, sir; it was 
no human teacher !'' and then, with emphasis, added : — '' It was 
this New Testament, — this book, which fell into my hands in so 
remarkable a way.'' 

^' But proceed with your speech/' said Charles, with a slight 
tinge of sarcasm in his tone. 

^^ I will do so, with your permission ; and allow me to observe 
that, from your tone of voice, it is rather your politeness that 
prompts the request than your desire to hear me.'' 

This was uttered with considerable excitement, but she effected 
her object, and Charles blushed. 

^' I was about to remark," she continued, ^^ that even if I have 
diligently performed all those works of penance, and, besides all 
this, lived a Christian life, yet I still need the last sacrament, or 
extreme unction. This has the efficacy of expiating minor sins 
and of driving away the devil in the hour of death, as the church 
teaches. This doctrine, sir, always alarmed me very much. 



STRONG ARGUMENT. 75 

What a miserable being man is, that even baptism, confirmation, 
absolution, penance, and a pious life, cannot so far secure him 
against Satan as to prevent him from dragging away the soul 
even on a dying bed, unless the helping hand of the priest is 
present with his holy oil I Truly, the merciful God has not made 
it an easy thing for the sincere Catholic to obtain mercy from 
him ! 

'' But, notwithstanding this, the terrors are still not at an end. 
Our catechism and the church teach, ^ there is also a purgatov}/ 
in which the souls of the pious will be tormented for a fixed 
period and be thereby atoned for, that an entrance into eternal 
happiness may be opened for them, into which nothing unclean 
can come.' Of what avail will it be to me if, from my birth to 
my death, I have conscientiously submitted to all the sacraments ? 
The priest must now read masses for souls, through the efficacy 
of which he will deliver me from purgatory, so that, if my soul 
has already departed from the world, it is not yet delivered over 
to the mercy of God alone, but it needs the sacrifice of the priest, 
which moves that mercy! Hence, I think that the soul of a 
sincere Catholic is indeed to be pitied. In life and in death it 
is not in the han9s of God, but in the hands of the priest.^' 

^^But, Giuletta, do you not see," he asked, ^Hhat it is par- 
ticularly consoling to us, when oppressed by a sense of sin, to 
know that the church has so many means of grace, which accom- 
pany us all through life? Who need be dismayed, since the 
church so securely shelters him, when even the departed soul is 
not left to itself, but is conducted to the gates of paradise by the 
holy sacrifice of the mass ?" 

" But it is exactly this painful system of fortifying and secur- 
ing my soul," she rejoined, ^^ that creates in me the feeling as 
though it were like a besieged town, in which breaches were con- 
tinually made, the enemy pouring in here and there, and reluct- 
antly driven back by the garrison. By all this I feel myself cut 
off from God, just as a besieged city from the governor of the 
country, and just as dependent on the power of the protecting 



76 TRUE THEOLOGY. 

priests as such a town is on the good-will of the garrison. There 
is no certain security there. I must be in constant dread. ^' 

^^Not at all! not at all!^' said he; ^^the power of the church is 
so infallible that her sacraments afford the strongest security 
against all the attacks and manoeuvres of the enemy of the soul, 
so that you can be in perfect peace, and may compare yourself 
not to a besieged city, but to one that is delivered and is ringing 
with the shout of victory.'^ 

^^ Pardon me, sir; this jubilee can only come when I, redeemed 
from purgatory, enter the gates of paradise. Until then there is 
danger and strife,'^ was her answer. 

'^ For that reason,'^ he continued, '^ the church leads you that 
far by her sacraments, and affords you by means of their infallible 
efficacy an invincible protection. That is the great advantage of 
our orthodox church over the Protestant : — that she makes the at- 
tainment of salvation dependent on the performance of the sacra- 
mental services themselves, and not, as the Protestant church, 
on faith or the firm conviction of the necessity of the grace of 
God for the sinner. The Protestant Christian cannot know whether 
his faith is firm enough ; he must always be afraid that his faith 
may waver; he must, then, always be full of dread and anxiety 
about his salvation. ^^ 

^^I do not think so,^' she again said. ^^I have an unshaken con- 
fidence in the truth of the reply which Jesus gave to the question, 
' What must I do that I may have eternal life V and to all eternity 
I will believe in the grace of the father who received the prodi- 
gal son as he returned repenting. The matter is very simple, 
in my view. If I believe in God, I must also believe that he is 
merciful in Christ; if he is merciful, he will forgive the penitent 
without the mediation of the priest. So soon as I deny that I 
also deny God, and then of course I no longer need the sacra- 
ments.'' 

^^But I should still think,'' remarked Charles, ^Hhat the sav- 
ing power of the church was more to be relied on than the saving 
power of your confidence in the grace of God." 



INTENTION. 77 

^^ I think not/' said she. ^^If I have not yet a strong confidence 
and faith in the grace of God, then I can have no confidence 
that^the sacraments will be efi'ectual in procuring foT me the 
grace of God. If God in general would not forgive the sinner, 
the sacraments would possess no efficacy so then we would have 
to believe that they operate like magic and force the Almighty 
to dispense his grace. I must also then, in the Catholic church, 
have confidence in God's grace, or no sacrament will quiet my 
conscience.^' 

^^It may quiet your conscience or not,'' he replied; ^^you may 
have faith or not; it will still be of great advantage to you. 
That is the most comfortable part of it : — that it helps him who 
has no confidence in it, just as a medicine heals a sick man who 
hopes nothing from it." 

^^That would surely be very agreeable," she continued, ^4f we 
could only be assured of it, and if the efficacy of the sacrament 
were not made to depend on the faith of another, of which I can- 
not be certain, — that is, on the faith of the priest who administers 
the sacrament. You know that the church teaches that every 
sacrament is only effectual to the faithful when the priest who 
administers it has^he intention of administering a sacrament. I 
cannot clearly express myself in your language." 

^^I understand; you mean he must have the willj the disposi- 
tion of mind y to administer a sacrament." 

^^ Yes, that is it," she observed. ^^The necessity of this inten- 
lion the holy council maintains very strongly, when it says, (Canon 
II. Sess. 7,) ^If any one maintains that intention is not necessary 
to the priest to do what the church does when he administers the 
sacraments, let Mm he accursed.^ That is a very doubtful affair 
to me. I can be certain of my own faith, for I can surely know 
what is in my mind; but how can I be certain of the intention 
of the priest? If his mind had been disturbed or occupied by any 
thing else when he baptized, confirmed, absolved, and even gave 
me extreme unction, then I am as good as not baptized, con- 
firmed, absolved, or anointed. Who will assure me that the priest 

7* 



78 IMPATIENCE. 

has the right intention ? You well know how men are, and how, 
through mere habit, they at length thoughtlessly perform what 
they are called upon to do daily. But it is still worse when the 
priest himself does not believe in the efficacy of the sacrament. 
Since, then, I have no means in the world of being assured that 
the priest had the right intention, I must be forever uncertain 
whether the sacraments were of any benefit to me, and it can 
very easily happen that after all I may be deceived, although I 
may have received the sacraments devoutly. It is very hard 
indeed, dear sir, that we cannot receive our salvation immedi- 
ately from God, but that the priest must conclude the contract 
with Grod for us, and that the whole contract may be void if the 
priest commits some error in the formalities.'^ 

^^ Giuletta,'' said he, rather sharply, ^^your prattle disturbs my 
mind ! I became a Catholic chiefly because I believed that I could 
be more certain of my salvation in the Catholic church than in 
the Protestant, in which I was taught to depend on my own faith. 
But I now see that it is more dangerous to be obliged to rely on 
the faith of another, of which we cannot at all be certain. Do 
you not hear? my sister is calling you! I wish to be alone!'' 

She sorrowfully remarked, ^^I communicated to you my joy 
upon the answer which I found after a long inquiry, and hoped 
to gladden your heart. Why, then, cannot you rejoice with me? 
The word of the Savior is also applicable to you, — ' Keep the com- 
mandments and thou shalt enter into life/ and this is summed up 
in this : — ' Believe in Christ.' Cling to this word, and dismiss every 
thing else from your mind. I thought that you could place as 
much — ^yea, even more — confidence in the word of the Savior him- 
self, than in the declarations of his vicegerent in Bome." 

^^You are right, my friend," he replied, ^^I will do it. Now 
leave me!" 

She left him. He felt his faith considerably shaken by this 
conversation. We know in what disposition of mind he was led 
to the Bomish church. He had hoped there to be quite certain 
of his salvation, as it no longer depended on his own faith. He 



REFLECTION. 79 

felt that in this respect his condition was not meliorated, but 
rendered worse, and with that there was connected the painful 
experience that he had deceived himself in the whole object of 
his conversion. He well knew that Giuletta had no other teacher 
than the New Testament, and could not avoid the thought that 
her sound understanding was leading her in a way which he 
regretted he had not himself sooner entered. Giuletta, as she 
read the New Testament as a Catholic, interpreted every word in 
reference to her own church, and hence very quickly observed 
that which a Protestant unacquainted with Catholicism easily over- 
looks, and which for that reason does not afterward immediately 
occur to him when an attempt is made to alienate him from his 
church. He regretted that, while pursuing his musical studies 
with so much zeal, he had almost totally neglected the New 
Testament, and he silently resolved to begin the work anew, 
hoping that the simple word of the gospel would afford a guide 
which would extricate him from the labyrinth of theological and 
philosophical subtleties. At the same time he again took up the 
paper which he had written, in which all the grounds of his con- 
version were fully developed. He found that much which he had 
written down as undoubted certainty had vanished into nothing; 
but he also yet found much which seemed to him irrefutable, 
and which gave him fresh courage. Particularly, that appeared 
to him to be removed beyond all doubt which was to be the sub- 
ject of the next evening's conversation, — namely, that the Roman 
Catholic is the only true apostolic church. 



83 THE TRUE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH AND HER POPES. 

The next evening the family assembled for their usual sociable 
conversation, at wliicb, according to the agreement, Bernbard was 
also present, yet on the condition tliat be was to take part only 
when particularly requested, with which he was perfectly satisfied. 
He had been convinced, from his short acquaintance with Charles, 
that he had become a Romanist merely from having misappre- 
hended the nature of his religious wants, and that from this a 
sincere conviction followed. Hence he believed that Charles 
deserved forbearance, and should not be violently assaulted, if he 
were again to be won back to the church from which he had 
separated. He flattered himself with the hope that he might again 
be won, since he had become a Romanist not from impure motives, 
but from conviction. In his opinion, that time was misspent 
which was devoted to disputing with those who had become prose- 
lytes from mere selfishness, politics, or indifference to all religion. 
The assembled friends now challenged Charles to communicate 
his reasons why lie held the Roman Catholic to he the only ajpos- 
tolic church. 

^^ You will grant,'' he began, ^Hhat Jesus, or, at least, his apos- 
tles, founded a church — that is, an external society of Christians, 
bound together by the same faith, the same government, and the 
same ri'fes. Of this church Jesus says (Matt. xvi. 18) that the 
gates or power of hell shall not prevail against it. The church 
founded by the apostles cannot then have been destroyed; it must 
yet exist; and it also can be the only true church of Christ. 
The question now is. Where is it to be found ? Not in the Prot- 
estant churches, for they have only existed for three hundred years; 
we know their founders, namely, Luther in Saxony, and Zwingle in 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 81 

Switzerland. But we do not know an uninspired founder of the 
Catliolic churcli. Her origin, and the succession of bishops in 
her, extend to the apostles themselves. She is then the church 
founded by the apostles personally, therefore quite certainly the 
true church, to which alone all the promises and privileges which 
Jesus gave to his church refer. She, and she only, is in posses- 
sion of true Christianity, of the lawful priesthood, the proper 
church government, and the true means of salvation. All those, 
such as Lutherans and others, who separate from her, depart 
from the true church of Christ, and must hence be regarded as 
heretics. These positions appear to me so true, and withal so con- 
nected, that I know nothing that can be said against them. And 
now, my friends, I will wait and hear your objections. ^^ 

^^ You have brought forward two very different propositions, as 
though they were one and the same, and you include both in your 
idea of the cJiurcJiy" began his father. ^^When you say that 
Jesus founded a church which can never have been destroyed, 
you speak of the great Christian communion, which comprehends 
in it the Romish, Evangelical, Greek, and other churches and 
sects as its parts. Christianity, or the church of all churches, 
was surely founded by Jesus and the apostles, because it can have 
no other origin. That is the church which cannot be destroyed. 
In the course of time Hhe churches' — that is, the Romish, Evan- 
gelical, &c. — sprung from it. When, then, you speak of the truth 
of the church, and refer this expression to the origin of Chris- 
tianiti/j then Christianity only was instituted by Christ; but not 
the Catholic, Evangelical, and Greek divisions into which Chris- 
tianity was subsequently divided. In this sense an untrue church 
would be equivalent to an unchristian church, as, for example, 
Mohammedanism, Judaism, &c. In respect to origin from Jesus 
and the apostles, Christianity is the true church.^' 

^^I do not mean it in that sense,'^ said Charles; ^^but I hold 
the Roman Catholic to be the true church, because she was 
founded by Jesus and the apostles personally. By the word 
church I did not mean Christianity or the great communion of 



O^ THE TRUE CHURCH. 

CliristianS; but the Roman Catholic church, which is subject to 
the pope.'^ 

^^Then you were going wrong in starting out with the idea of 
Christianity in general/^ replied his father, ^^and yet, in the 
progress of your reasoning, confining your use of the word church 
to the Komish communion. You know that all reasoning is false 
in the course of which a different sense is attached to the prin- 
cipal idea.^' 

'' That is unquestionable, agreeably to the rules of logic. I 
will then state my position thus,^^ continued Charles. ^^That 
can be the only true church among all existing churches, which, 
as the oldest, was founded by Jesus and the apostles personally^ 
and from which all others first separated themselves.^^ 

" You have now stated your position correctly,'^ his father 
conceded, ^^but yet it is to no purpose. You lay much stress 
upon the assumption that the Komish church was founded by 
the apostles personally. If this is to be the mark of the true 
church, then only the churches of those cities and countries in 
which the apostles themselves lived and taught could constitute 
the true church, and the Romish church in Grermany, Ireland, 
Poland, and all America, would not belong to the true church, 
because these churches were not founded by the apostles person- 
ally, but by other Christian teachers.'^ 

^^But yet they are apostolical, for they have received the 
apostolical instruction from other persons of the true church/' 
declared Charles. 

^^Then you acknowledge that it is the same thing,'^ said the 
father, ^^ whether the apostles founded a congregation by their 
personal oral instruction, or by their personal written instruc- 
tion ; and that the other persons who impart to it the instruction 
of the apostles do not take away from it the character of apostol- 
ical. It is not they, properly, but the gospel, which establishes 
the new church. Thus it was in the establishment of the Prot- 
estant church. She was also a branch which proceeded from 
the Romish church, and received from her the Holy Scriptures, 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 83 

the three general confessions, and some other things, and only 
rejected that which was opposed to the written instructions of 
the apostles. It was not the Reformers who founded our church, 
but the gospel, after it had been brought out of its concealment 
by them. They were only the means — the missionaries of the 
gospel, and hence, with great propriety, we call ourselves an 
evangelical or gospel church. That church, founded by the 
written instruction of the evangelists and apostles, is more safely 
a true church than one founded by oral instruction, because 
written doctrine is more certain and secure than oral doctrine 
which has passed through the heads of so many other teachers. 
The former proceeded immediately from the spirit of the apostles, 
and was reduced to writing, which cannot be changed ; but the latter 
has been subjected to constant change through many centuries; 
and it is not to be doubted but that every one who imparted it 
shaped it according to his own peculiar views.''' 

'^ The difference, dear father, consists in this : that those 
churches founded by the Catholic church also assumed her 
organization and whole character, and thus became one with her ; 
but other churches — the evangelical, for instance — changed many 
things. In judging of the genuineness of a church, every thing 
depends on its character.' ' 

^^Then you see, my son, that when we speak of the true 
church, we must not inquire about its apostolical origin, but 
whether it possesses the true character; so that the question, 
Which among all existing churches is the true church ? can have 
no other meaning than this : Which is the best ? that is. Which most 
perfectly answers the design which a Christian church should 
generally have in view ? What was the ohject of Christianity in 
your opinion V^ 

^^ We have already agreed,'' said Charles, ^^that the object was 
to deliver men from the punishment of sin. The church is the 
means of accomplishing it." 

" Grood," replied the father; " so, then, that church is the only 
true one which serves that purpose, — that iS; is capable not only 



84 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

of quieting the ap2)7'elie7isions of men about the punisliment of 
sin, but also of delivering tbem from tbe dominion or service of 
8171. We have not, then, to ask which is the^oldest church, but 
which is the best, — that is, best adapted to fulfil the object of 
Christianity. Consequently, our Augsburg Confession is very 
right in saying, ^The true church exists where the gospel is 
properly taught and the sacraments are administered according 
to the directions of Christ.' If it should now be found that the 
evangelical church better answers the designs of Christianity, 
then she would also be the truest or the best church; but the 
Roman Catholic would be either less true or altogether a false 
church, if she answered this purpose in a less degree or really 
opposed it.'' 

^^ It is not possible, dear father, that the Roman Catholic 
church, as the oldest, could ever be a corrupt church; for she 
has the Spirit of God, is infallible, and hence, among all other 
churches, is the only one protected against the errors of faith and 
practice." 

^^ Experience contradicts that," observed the father. '^ Jesus 
himself sa^^s that false teachers will arise in his church. The 
apostles had experience of that ; and no century has elapsed in 
which the church has not been disturbed by controversies about 
doctrine and practice. The councils decided many points, but 
they were not always unanimous : many things remained un- 
decided. The early church herself adopted some measures 
which were afterward abandoned : for instance, the love-feast 
and the administration of the Lord's supper to children. You 
see then that it is possible for the church founded by the 
apostles to be in some degree corrupted in the course of time. 
But if such corruptions exist, — if, for instance, the church intro- 
duces so many means of reconciliation that it is no longer neces- 
sary for men to abandon sin, but sufficient to declare it their in- 
tention to do so, — if, in public worship, she regards instruction 
and edification as matters of minor importance, and the cere- 
monies as the principal thing, — if she introduces superstitious 



THE TRUE CIIUllCII. 85 

rites and considers them as essential^ as, for instance, tlie adora- 
tion of saints and relics, — if tlie organization is so shaped that the 
church is no longer serviceable to Christianity, but only to the 
priesthood, — if every thing is so perverted that, instead of 
Christ, a pope is set up, in the place of apostles, bishops, and, in 
the room of the church, a priesthood, — then the church is differ- 
ent from what she originally was, and no longer answers the 
design of religion, but the purposes of the priesthood/' 

*^Do you intend to assume all this of the Catholic church, 
father ?^' asked Charles. 

^^Are you beginning to make the application already ? If so, 
it is sooner than I intended,' ' <iryly replied the venerable man. 

'^ But you have interrupted me. I was saying that, under 
these circumstances, it is the i-ight, yea, the duti/^ of Christian 
congregations to reform the church and to abolish the abuses 
that have crept in. I would designate this as the right of re- 
formation. This right was exercised about three hundred years 
ago by many congregations of the West, and thus was established 
the Protestant church. After emperors and kings had often — 
but always in vain — insisted upon a reformation in the ' head and 
members,' as they^expressed it, — that is, in the pope and priest- 
hood, (but the popes had baffled these attempts, as well as the 
exertions of the two great Councils of Constance and Basel in 
the fifteenth century,) — that finally occurred to which the church 
had a natural right : she reformed herself, and followed Luther, 
Zwingli, and other pious men, who showed, from the writings of 
the evangelists and apostles, how the church should be con- 
stituted. As the popes, instead of encouraging the reformation, 
proscribed and excommunicated the reformers and all their fol- 
lowers, they were perfectly right, since unjustly excommunicated, 
in joining together in a Christian communion or church, which 
they called evangelical because it was founded on the gospel. 
From the right of reforming the church necessarily follows the 
legitimacy of the origin or constitution of the Protestant church. 
Another person as reformer would not have been necessary if the 

8 



86 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

popes had been more solicitous about the honor of Christ than 
about their earthly dominion. It is then beyond controversy that 
tlie Protestant church is a Christian and apostolical churchy and 
that she^ as one reformed according to the gospel, is also a true 
church, and at least possesses more of the character of the true 
church than the Komish, which retains and perpetuates all the 
deficiencies and abuses which rendered the Reformation neces- 
sary. Now, my son, what can you say V^ 

'' Even if I grant all this,'^ replied he, ^^yet there still remains 
the objection that she is not a catlioUc church, and has declared 
herself off from the first church founded by the apostles, which 
is united under the bishop of Eome as the head.^' 

The father now thought it proper to allow Bernhard to speak, 
who had been thus far a silent but interested listener. But, be- 
fore he began, Charles claimed the privilege of defining the word 
catholic, for he evidently built high hopes upon it. He thus 
proceeded : — 

"Catholic is a Greek word, and signifies <7e?iera7. The expres- 
sion was commonly used in the second and third centuries by the 
church, and was occasioned by certain teachers of false doctrine, 
to whom it was objected that all the other Christian congrega- 
tions believed differently from them, and that hence their doctrine, - 
as opposed to the general belief, could not possibly be true.^' 

"That is correct,^' said Bernhard j "but it is to be observed, 
in addition, that by the expression catholic church was meant the 
congregations in the Koman empire, the imjierial church, and 
not all Christian congregations in the world. The word otxouiie\>yj, 
which expresses the same as catholic, frequently signifies the 
Roman empire; hence, also, an oecumenical council did not 
comprehend all Christian teachers, for instance, from Ethiopia, 
Persia, India, Arabia, &c., but only the bishops of the empire. 
Only under these circumstances was it possible that the Roman 
emperors, as Constantine and Theodosius the Great, could call 
together ^e?ieraZ or oecumenical — viz., imperial — councils, and give 
the sanction of law to their decrees. The title also of oecumenical 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 87 

hishop, (which I will mention here,) which the bishops of Rome 
arrogated to themselves, and which was finally granted to them, 
meant nothing more than first or chief hisliop of the Roman em- 
pire, and by no means, as was subsequently maintained, general 
or sole bishop of the whole Christian world/' 

'' But tell us distinctly, what do you understand by the word 
Catliolic, now?'' asked Charles, impatiently. 

'' Be calm, dear sir. Questions like these require cool con- 
sideration, and a question of a few words may call for a long 
answer," replied Bernhard. ^^But I will proceed to say that the 
phrase Catholic church, originally, then, meant nothing more than 
the imperial church — the church of the Homan empire. When 
the Boman empire was divided into two great parts, the Western 
and Eastern, or the Latin and the Greek, then there naturally 
arose two Catholic churches, that is, two imperial churches, the 
Western and the Eastern. The latter or the Greek church, after 
her separation from the Western, continued to call herself a 
Catholic, that is, an imperial church, and the Latin church never 
disputed the title. It was only after the dismemberment of the 
Latin empire that men, in the ignorance of the Middle Ages, be- 
gan in the West ^ use the expression ^ Catholic church' in the 
sense of general, consequently, oiili/ true, church, although, after 
the destruction of the Roman empire, there could not properly 
any longer be a Catholic or imperial church. Roman Catholic 
church, then, properly designates the Christian church of the 
Latin-Roman empire, and thus has a correct meaning. But if 
Catholic, as men now wish to use it, is to designate the general 
church in all places of the world, then Roman Catholic is as 
great a contradiction of terms as ' icooden iron,^ inasmuch as, 
besides the Eastern church, the Evangelical church has arisen, 
and Roman now, since the dissolution of the Roman empire, 
only yet extends to that particular church which acknowfedges 
the bishop of Rome as its head. At the present day Roman 
Catholic signifies the Romish Particular General Church, which 
is a sad contradiction." 



88 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

^^I never viewed it in that light/' said Charles, ^^and readily 
confess that no importance can be attached to the title Catholic; 
yea, that, on account of the totally-changed political relations of 
the empire, it no longer has any meaning. But even if I do re- 
gard the Romish church as a particular church, yet you must 
grant that she is the oldest, and that she was founded imme- 
diately by the apostles. And this is certainly an advantage. The 
Evangelical churches are all new, instituted only three hundred 
years ago; and surely the promise of Christ, that his Spirit should 
guide the church, does not refer to them.'^ 

The father now remarked : — '' What you say about the advan- 
tage of antiquity and the modern organization of the Evangelical 
church, that is already refuted by what was said before. There 
are old errors and new truths ; so that, in the investigation of 
every subject, the question should not be, ' Is it old V but, ' Is it 
true V Christianity was also once new, and so was every truth 
which is now old to us.'' 

'^ But is it no advantage at all to the Eomish church that she 
is the oldest V^ asked Charles. 

^' She is by no means the oldest,'' replied his father. '' Only 
read your New Testament, and you will have a more correct idea 
of the establishment of the Christian churchy for the Roman 
papal church is altogether out of the question. That the church 
was established in the Roman empire was not the choice of the 
apostles, but it necessarily occurred because they lived in that 
empire. They founded individual congregations wherever they 
could, especially in Asia Minor and Greece, of course in districts 
which do not belong to the present Romish church, but to the 
Eastern church. If, then, any church in the world could claim 
immediate descent from the apostles, it would be the Eastern or 
Greek church, for in her provinces — in Egypt, Syria, Pisidia, 
Paphlagonia, Galatia, — in Greece, Thrace, Macedonia, — the first 
congregations were founded, and by the apostles themselves. If, 
then, the truth and genuineness of a church depended on her 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 89 

antiquity, the Eastern or Greek church would be the true one, 
and the Roman a spurious one/^ 

Charles manifested great astonishment as well as perplexity at 
these remarks^ which did not escape the notice of his father, who 
thus continued to press the argument still more closely : — 

^' Perhaps not a single one of the Latin churches can show 
that it was founded by an apostle. It is true that, during the 
life of the apostles, a congregation was founded at Rome, as we 
learn from the epistle which Paul wrote to them ; but it was 
established before an apostle went there. The congregations 
scattered throughout the whole Roman empire were the first 
churches; they may have been founded by the apostles them- 
selves or by others. But they had not yet an external bond of 
union. They governed themselves and managed their own afiairs, 
but they had yet no church government common to them all. 
This, and the external form of a united society, they first received 
in the fourth century, when they were publicly acknowledged in 
the empire as a church, at the time that Constantino the Great 
became a Christian, and called together the bishops to an impe- 
rial synod or diet, and shaped the church government according 
to the political divisions of the empire. But that, my son, was 
not the Romish church, that is, the one subject to the po^je, but 
the imperial church, which embraced all the congregations in 
the empire, and at whose head the emperors stood, and not the 
hishops. The bishop of Rome then first became a patriarch, and 
enjoyed equal rights with the patriarchs of Constantinople, An- 
tioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, and only afterward received 
the precedence over them. But he was subject to the emperor 
as well as the other bishops.'^ 

" Then the Roman bishops at that time were not popes, and 
did not rule the church V^ asked Charles. 

Bernhard respectfully asked permission to speak, and thus re- 
plied to the question : — '' What you have said agrees perfectly 
with history. The bishops of Rome were, at an early day, very 
highly distinguished and influential, because they were the bishops 

8* 



90 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

of the great capital of that immense empire. The splendor of the 
city also cast its broad beams over them. But they were not 
lords of the church, and only stood on an equality with other 
great bishops. Every bishop was called loapa, pope, — i. e. father, 
— particularly the patriarchs of Alexandria; and every church 
founded by an apostle called itself sedes apostolica, apostolical 
seat. The precedence was allowed to the Roman bishop only 
because he was the bishop of the capital of the kingdom, but no 
superior power or authority was bestowed upon him. It was the 
Christian emperors, Constantino and his successors, who estab- 
lished ecclesiastical law, who appointed bishops and deposed 
them, who called general church councils and confirmed their 
decisions, by which alone they received the authority of law. 
And when Charlemagne at the beginning of the ninth century 
again restored the Western Imperial dignity, he also exercised 
supreme authority over the bishops of Home, and summoned 
church councils. It was only in the eleventh century that popery 
was established by the Roman bishop Gregory YII., and with it 
the Romish church; and he was the man who first arrogated to 
himself exclusively the title papa, (pope,) notwithstanding that 
the Eastern bishops never recognised this assumption. The 
Komish church, then, in the present sense of the word, where it 
designates those congregations which acknowledge the Roman 
bishops as pope or as supreme head of the church, was first estab- 
lished in the middle of the eleventh century under the Roman 
bishop Gregory y II., after the Eastern Christians publicly and 
solemnly separated from the Western in 1053, because they would 
not recognise the supreme authority which the Roman bishops 
began to assume. Hence the Roman-papal church was first 
established only one thousand years after Christ. When, then, 
in the sixteenth century the Evangelical Christians separated 
from the Roman church, they did not leave an old, but a new 
church, which had been instituted but about five centuries be- 
fore, and returned again to the old church.^' 

Charles here asked, ^^But did not Jesus appoint the apostle 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 91 

Peter the supreme head of his church ? and did not Peter, when 
he was bishop at Rome, bequeath this supremacy to the Eoman 
bishops as his successors ? Has not this official pre-eminence of 
the Roman bishops always been acknowledged in the church ? 
Had not then the Roman bishops the right, from the very begin- 
ning, of being popes ?^^ 

^^ This error has been so often and so conclusively refuted,'^ 
replied the father, ^^ that it is almost idle to say any thing more 
about it. You found your pretension on the words of Christ, 
Matt. xvi. 18 : — ^And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter; 
and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it. (v. 19 :) And I will give unto thee 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou 
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' The words of the 
nineteenth verse, which speak of the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, we will not now consider. For we have already (ch. vi.) 
discussed that subject; and again, they do not bestow any pre- 
rogative upon Peter, for the Savior (Matt. xvii. 18; John xx. 23) 
addresses the same words to all the apostles. The eighteenth 
verse then remains to be considered. Jesus here, according to 
the custom of antiquity, gave Peter, who was properly called 
Simon, another name, just as Paul was first called Saul and the 
apostle Matthew's first name was Levi. The internal character 
of Peter, namely, his courage and stability, (for which reason our 
Lord compared him to a roch^ gave occasion to Jesus to change 
his name, which was very common at that day. Thus David 
calls God his rock, upon which he trusts. Hence the Savior 
means, ^ Upon this your courage and stability, unshaken as a 
rock^ (which will not yield to the Pharisees and Scribes, and will 
not be moved by any persecution,) I build the hope of establish- 
ing a perpetual church ;* or, ^ You, by your courage and activity, 
will be distinguished above all in the establishing of my church.' 
But our Savior says not a single word about Peter being the 
lord of the church, or even the chief of the apostles. What 



92 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

Jesus said was only an evidence of what lie hoped from the 
character and courage of the apostle, and nothing more. It was 
neither a commission nor a charge; and we would act just as un- 
reasonably as if we would conclude from that other address of 
Jesus to Peter, (Matt. xvi. 23,) that he had forever excluded Peter 
from his church : — ' But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee 
behind me, Satan, (deceiver ;) thou art an offence unto me : for 
thou savorest not of the things that be of God, but those that be 
of men.'' 

" I grant,'' said Charles, ^' that in those words Jesus gave no 
commission and bestowed no supreme power on Peter; but they 
only show what Jesus hoped from Peter. But yet it still cannot 
be denied that Jesus at another place gave Peter paramount 
authority over the church, or the chief episcopal office. For we 
read that after his resurrection he said three times to Peter, 
^ Feed my lambs.' (John xxi. 15-17.)" 

" But," replied his father, '' he does not say, ^ You alone shall 
feed my lambs ;^ he does not thereby exclude the other apostles. 
This whole commission rather shows that Peter should thereby 
be stimulated to devote himself anew to the performance of his 
apostolical duties. He had denied Jesus, and the intention of 
the threefold question of the Bedeemer, ' Simon, lovest thou me ?' 
must have been well understood by him. After the death of 
Jesus he betook himself again to the Sea of Tiberias, and devoted 
himself to his former occupation — that of a fisherman ; and so he 
well needed the renewed encouragement, ' Feed my sheep, — that 
is, ^Abandon your business and devote yourself to the work of 
an apostle.' For the words of Jesus by no means embrace the 
idea, ' You shall be chief of the apostles, and the only bishop of 
all future Christians." 

^^But, according to the records of the acts of the apostles," 
observed Charles, ^^did not the other apostles always yield the 
pre-eminence to him, and did he not always stand at their head ?" 

^^ A distinguished apostle he most certainly was," answered he, 
'' because he had talents and energy; but that he exercised author- 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 93 

ity over his fellow-apostles, or the whole church, is not true. 
You find no evidence of it, but plain proof of the contrary. Paul 
(Gal. ii. 9) says that James, Peter, and John ' seemed to be pil- 
lars of the church,' and thus attributes equal influence and author- 
ity to them all. Paul was chosen by Jesus to be the apostle of 
the Grentiles, and, according to Gal. ii. 9, the other apostles ac- 
knowledged him as such, and declared that they would confine 
themselves exclusively to the Gentiles. Now, if we reasoned as 
the Romanists do, we could maintain that Peter was only the 
supreme head of the Jewish Christians, but Paul the supreme 
head of the Gentile Christians. 

'' But if Peter had no supremacy over the other apostles and 
the church, then he could not have transferred it to the bishops 
of Rome.'' 

" And that was never done. If Jesus had really (Matt. xvi. 
18) bestowed any prerogative on him, yet he would have received 
it merely on account of his personal qualities of firmness and 
solidity, for which reason he was compared to a rock. But since 
personal qualities cannot be bequeathed to others, so this preroga- 
tive of Peter could not be transferred to others. Of course, then, 
it must have become extinct at his death, or it would certainly 
sooner have been bestowed upon the apostle John, who survived 
Peter, if upon any one, than upon the then bishop of Rome." 

The mother here observed, " I cannot but believe that the 
Savior would have spoken much more explicitly if he had wished 
to make Peter the supreme ruler of the church. Rights so im- 
portant, and exerting such an unspeakable influence on Chris- 
tianity, are not bestowed on any one in a short figurative expres- 
sion, ^Thou art a rock, and upon it will I build my church.' I 
should think that the Lord could without any difficulty have said, 
' You shall be the head of my church, and at your death you shall 
bequeath this right to the bishops of Rome.' Why would not 
the Lord have said that, if he had even remotely thought of it ? 
But in the discourses of Jesus and in the writings of the apostles 
we read of only one head of the church, and that is Christ him- 



94 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

self. Your position, dear Charles, tliat you Romanists alone can 
be true Cliristians, because you "adhere to the pope and claim de- 
scent from the first church, reminds me of the Jews, (John viii. 
37; 45,) who maintained that they alone were the true children 
of Grod, because they descended from Abraham. The Lord tells 
them that they only then shall be the children of Abraham when 
they do the works of Abraham — be as pious as Abraham. Thus 
he will acknowledge only those as true Christians who ^have the 
same spirit, the same mind' with him, whether they are papists 
or not. I would suppose, dear Charles, that the matter might be 
settled in this manner : we might dispense with all learned investi- 
gations, whether in the first church the bishops of Rome were 
recognised as supreme rulers of the Christian world or not.'' 

^^Yes, it may be so,'^ said Charles. "Neither can I deny 
that this acknowledgment cannot be proved. I have read the 
writings of the fathers, and confess that I found nothing which 
establishes a recognition of the Romish pontiff. Although I have 
seen that the church in Rome was regarded as one of the oldest 
and most distinguished, yet I could not find that any jurisdic- 
tion over the church was ascribed to her bishop. '^ 

"Your observations are very correct and impartial, dear friend,'^ 
observed Bernhard. "There is a great difference between highly 
venerating a church and inquiring about her confessions of faith 
because she is one of the oldest and most distinguished, and 
venerating her because her bishop is supreme head of the church.'' 

"But even if the supremacy of the popes cannot be established 
by the New Testament,' ' said Charles, "and was not recognised in 
the early centuries, as I now myself grant, yet it is so necessary 
to the church to have a pope that one would have to be appointed, 
if we had none already, so that it is highly improper to reject 
him. For, first, there must be one point of union in the church, 
to bind all things together and keep them in connection, if the 
whole is not to fall to pieces. There must also be a unity of 
church government, a central point of faith, in fine, all that we 
have in the pope." 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 95 

^^You here combine several things together, wliicli we must 
separate/^ remarked his father. ^^ What do you mean by a point 
of union in the church respecting its faith ?'^ 

^^One that can pronounce a decisive judgment upon all doc- 
trinal controversies, and thus maintain peace in the church, or 
restore it when it is disturbed/^ replied Charles. 

^^Have your popes been able to do that?^' 

^^Not altogether, it is true; but in most instances they have 
maintained the unity of the faith. ^^ 

^^They could not prevent — they rather occasioned — the separa- 
tion of the whole Eastern from the Western church,'^ continued the 
father; '^thej could not prevent it that, since they founded their 
kingdom in the eleventh century, there have been Waldenses, 
Wicklifites, and Hussites; and that Dominicans, Franciscans; and 
Jesuits, conducted the most violent controversies among themselves 
about the immaculate conception of Mary, and original and sancti- 
fying grace, which remain undecided to this day. They could 
neither prevent the commencement, nor afterward arrest the pro- 
gress, of Quietism and the Jansenist controversies in the French 
church; it was thus with the great fundamental principle estab- 
lished by the Councils of Constance and Basel, — that the pope is 
subject to a general council; it was thus also with the great 
and powerful reformation in which nearly half of the West de- 
clared itself free from Eome. Of what avail, then, was your 
point of union in faith to you?^' 

^^ A great deal; for it was the popes alone who, amid the storm 
of parties, bound the greater part of the church in unity, and by 
their influence held it together. If it had not been for the popes, 
the whole church would have been divided into sects. ^^ . 

^^ Rather say, if it had not been for the popes, the reformation 
would have been general, and the whole Western church would 
have been converted into an evangelical communion. You say 
you have a point of union, — the pope, to whose decrees all must 
subject themselves; but we also have a point of union, — the gospel^ 
whose instructions every evangelical Christian follows.'^ 



96 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

^^But we are better off than the evangelical Cliristians, for 
among tliem every one explains the gospel as he pleases, but 
the decrees of the popes are not subject to the interpretation of 
every one. Hence, among you there is diversity of opinion, 
among us there is unity. ^^ 

^^The difference is rather this/^ said the father : — ^Hhat we fol- 
low the divine revealed word, but the Romanists obey a fallible 
man, and are forced to confess as true and good whatever pleases , 
the Roman bishops. And it has pleased them to establish, as an 
article of faith above all others, that they are the unlimited lords 
of the church and the whole Christian world, and that it is a 
most heinous sin not to believe and obey them. The difference 
is, further, that the gospel contains a sum of truths unalterably 
fixed, but the faith of the Romanist can always receive a new 
and often an unwelcome addition from the pope. The difference 
is, again, that, among us, the variety of religious opinions can 
be made uniform only through the influence of the truth, but in 
the Romish church uniformity of ^sentiment is produced by vio- 
lence and excommunication. For what means did the popes 
employ to maintain the unity of the faith ? Think of the fear- 
ful and terrible wars of extermination which they waged against 
the Albigenses and Waldenses, — of the Crusades, by which many 
towns were utterly destroyed, — of that monster, the Inquisition, 
which, according to the authentic report of the unfortunate 
Llorente, burned alive in Spain alone, from the year 1481 to 
1808, 32,382 persons, and imprisoned and robbed of their prop- 
erty 291,450, — of the abominations which were allowed in 
England under the bigoted Mary, at the introduction of popery, 
— of the horrible massacre on St. Bartholomew's day at Paris, 
for joy at which the pope instituted spiritual festivals, — of the 
Thirty Years' war in Germany, which was instigated by the 
J esuits, — of the dreadful violence by which the Reformation was 
suppressed in Austria and Bohemia, and of all those streams of 
blood which pollute your church, and condemn her before God 
as guilty of the most dreadful murders, — and then yet boast to me 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 97 

that the pope maintains union and peace in tlie eliurcli. A 
pretty point of union, indeed, whose only means of operation are 
fire and sword V' 

^^You set too much to the account of the popes that was 
owing only to the inconsiderate zeal of the princes/' observed 
Charles. 

^^Now, you know very well/' continued his father, ^Hhat the 
popes inflamed the wars against the Waldenses and the Prot- 
estants; that in the Seven Years' war a consecrated hat and 
sword were presented by the pope to the Austrian field-marshal 
Daun, that with it he might annihilate the heretical king of 
Prussia ; that the popes established the Inquisition ; that Pope 
Innocent lY. augmented its severity; and that they commanded 
and promoted its general introduction. And only hear what 
^the father of the Christian world' wrote to the King of France 
in 1712, when he sent the bull unigenitus, ' The kingdom of 
heaven — that is, the Catholic church — receives this advantage 
from the civil power, that those who act contrary to the con- 
fession of faith and order of the church are destroyed by the 
rigor of the civil princes, and the punishments which the church 
herself- — the pojpe — may not wish to inflict are laid upon the necks 
of the obstinate by the civil authority.'" 

^^ You believe, then, that the unity of the faith could be main- 
tained without a pope?" 

^^ I believe it ; and that it is very possible I see in the example 
of the Greek church, which has no pope." 

^^But who is to decide in religious controversies?" 

^^Let it be as was done in the Christian world for nearly a 
thousand years before there was a pope," answered his father; 
^^et the people of the country convene a synod to settle the 
dispute. In this manner were the greatest controversies of the 
ancient church settled for the space of nine hundred years. 
But it is still better to leave these difierent opinions correct 
themselves, for the truth will most infallibly appear in the end; 
it will always triumph. This agrees with what the Savior said 



98 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

He compares tlie cliurch to a field, (Matt. xiii. 24, 30,) in wHicli 
a man sowed tlie good seed of trutli, but among wMcli the enemy 
scattered the tares of error. The servants wished to pluck up 
the tares, just as the pope desires to exterminate heretics and 
heresy; but the householder said, ^Let both grow together until 
the harvest.' We are then taught to endure the erring until 
the last day, if they cannot be brought to the truth by in- 
struct ion.'' 

^' But there must at least be unity in the church government, 
and this cannot be well maintained otherwise than by a common 
supreme head," remarked Charles. 

^^ Before there were popes," continued the father, ^^the Boman 
emperors governed the church. A system of church govern^ 
ment that is to extend over all Christians in all quarters of 
the world is not possible, and exceedingly expensive and op- 
pressive." 

^^I confine myself to the apostle Paul," said the mother; 
^^who proposes another point of unity — not the pope, but Christ. 
He writes thus to the Ephesians, (ch. ii. 20, &c. :) ^ Ye are built 
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
himself being the chief corner-stone j (point of unity.) In whom 
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy tem- 
ple in the Lord.' In the fourth chapter, in which he maintains 
the unity of the church, the apostle does not even mention the 
pope or the vicegerent of Christ, but in the eleventh verse he 
recites the ecclesiastical offices thus, ^ And he gave some, apostles; 
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
and teachers f but he does not say that Christ ordained one to 
be the supreme head of all." 

^^That is true, dear mother," said Charles; ^^but it is still cer- 
tainly of great advantage to the church to have a spiritual chief 
who is equal in rank and dignity to kings and emperors, or 
elevated above them, who by the independent possession of an 
extensive country belongs to the rulers of this world, and who 
blazes in all the brilliancy of a sovereign prince. It is of great 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 99 

advantage for those who are placed near him — the cardinals and 
archbishops — to hold the rank of princes, and that bishops sub- 
scribe themselves, like princes, ^by the grace of GodJ This 
exalted hierarchy constitutes an indissoluble chain, which 
reaches from the lowest hut to the most elevated throne, con- 
nects every thing together, and secures to the church her glory, 
her independence on the authority of kings, and her great in- 
fluence upon the minds of the people. The rank of this exalted 
body of ecclesiastics everywhere secures them a place among the 
great of the earth ; they sit among kings and princes. The ears, 
the hearts, of the powerful are open to them; they learn and 
make proper use of their infirmities. Is it at all to be wondered 
at, that since the Keformation so many princes, dukes, and lords 
have become Catholics ? Assuredly posterity will yet see all the 
princes of Europe and other nations join the Catholic church. 
The advantages which the church gains from the grandeur of the 
pope and clergy are certainly very great. What cares the pope, 
who is himself a great independent prince, about the opposition 
of another king ? If this king desires to have any thing from 
the pope relating to ecclesiastical affairs, he must send an am- 
bassador to him as to another king, and the supreme head of the 
church treats with him as an equal, as one political power with 
another. If any thing is asked which is prejudicial to the 
church, the matter is rejected without further discussion, and 
the submission in the end is on the part of the princes. In 
what exalted dignity did not the supreme head of the church 
appear, when, after the Congress of Vienna, several German 
princes sent an embassy to Rome to negotiate a concordat for 
their Catholic subjects ! The embassy was obliged to wait eight 
weeks before they could even lay their propositions before Car- 
dinal Gonsalvi, at that time secretary of state. He immediately 
returned their papers, after having marked with his pencil the 
alterations which must be made before the matter could be sub- 
mitted to the holy father. It finally progressed so far that their 
business was proposed to the pope, who was in no hurry about 



100 THE TRUE CHURCH. 

liis reply, and at last, when the embassy insisted upon an answer, 
told them that he could do nothing in the matter, and with this 
decision the embassy left Rome. How is it, on the other hand, 
in Protestant countries, when the ruler desires to have any thing ? 
He commands, and men must obey, however unwillingly the 
clergy may do it. No; only grant that the Protestant church 
is subject to the arbitrary authority of every prince, but the 
Catholic church is free and independent in the world, because 
she has a pope. I still am right when I say that a pope would 
. have to be appointed if we had none already. ^^ 

^^No, sir,^' rejoined the father; ^^your inference is not cor- 
rect. He who desires to be the only bishop of all Christendom 
certainly must have so much to do in performing the duties of his 
office, that he need not besides burden himself with the weight 
of a worldly government. Your pope is only thereby involved 
in the strife of politics, and often wavers between the interests of 
the church and the advantage of his political kingdom. He and 
his cardinals are always more of politicians than clergymen, more 
of jurists than theologians, more learned in worldly affairs than 
in the things of the kingdom of God. Only read the history 
of the popes, and you will find that they were involved in polit- 
ical transactions without end, and that in truth they did not 
always act an honorable part. Nor does it become those who wish 
to represent the apostles to be ministers of state and commanders 
of armies, as Richelieu and Mazarin in France, as Cardinal 
Sourdis, who commanded the fleet, and as Cardinal La Valette, 
who commanded an army of the King of France in the Thirty 
Years' war.'' 

^^We do not need history,'' remarked the mother. ^^The 
testimony of Jesus himself condemns every thing you have said 
about the glory of a pope. He says expressl}^, (John xviii. 36,) 
' My kingdom is not of this world.' And also in the passage. 
Matt. vi. 24, he condemns the pope, who is at the same time a 
vicegerent of God and a worldly king : — ^No man can serve two 
masters ; for either he will hate the one and serve the other, or 



THE TRUE CHURCH. 101 

else lie will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot 
serve God and mammon.' The devil showed the Savior (Luke 
iv. 5) all the kingdoms of the world^ in order to excite his ambi- 
tion for an earthly kingdom ; but the Lord said, ' Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan.' What the Master did not wish, and would not 
do, does not become the servants. The disciples had certainly a 
desire for a political government. But what did Jesus say to 
them when he observed it ? ^ Ye know that the princes of the 
Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great 
exercise authority upon them. But it shall 7iot he so among 
you ; hut lohosoever will he great among you, let him be your 
minister, and whosoever will he chief among you, let him be 
your servant.' Matt. xx. 25; Mark x. 35. 

" It really appears as though the Lord had foreseen that one 
of the successors of the apostles would make himself a pope." 

^' The result, then, of this evening's conversation is this," con- 
cluded the father: — ^Hhat Christ did not intend that there should 
be a pope in his church; that there was no pope and no Komish 
church until the eleventh century; that the pope, as a worldly 
prince, is not suited to the spiritual character of the kingdom of 
Christ; and that i44s a groundless position that the Eoman Catho- 
lic church was founded immediately by Christy and to draw the 
inference that, therefore, she is the only true church, and that 
the Evangelical is a false church, is totally illogical." 

^^ I will take the liberty of adding but one observation," said 
Bernhard. '^ What were adopted by the church in the first five 
centuries, as public articles of faith, are all contained in the three 
general Christian confessions — the Apostolical, the Nicene, and the 
Athanasian. These confessions, the Evangelical church has 
adopted, and, consequently, she agrees with the church of the first 
five centuries. When, then, she rejects the doctrine of the pope, 
the mass, the seven sacraments, the adoration of saints, and other 
innovations, she only rejects what was introduced into the church 
at a later period without any scriptural ground whatever. For 
those three confessions contain not a particle of these doctrines. 

9* 



102 GIULETTA. 

As false, then, as is tlie position that the Roman Catholic church, 
as she is at present, is the church of the first centuries, so false 
is also the accusation that the Evangelical communion has se- 
ceded from the old church. She has rather returned to her, and 
the Eomish church has apostatized/' 



CHAPTEE X. 

GIULETTA MATT. XXIII. — THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

The father was absent for eight days from home, and the dis- 
cussions were in the mean time suspended. Charles found time 
to think over the subjects that had been debated. But he came 
to ng other conclusion than that he felt that his strongest argu- 
ments, by which he expected to justify his apostasy, were utterly 
untenable. He began to acknowledge secretly to himself that he 
had acted precipitately. 

In this state of mind, he one morning entered the parlor, and 
found Giuletta earnestly reading. " Ah, signora ! what book is 
that in which you seem so profoundly absorbed V^ he asked. 

She held up the little volume and replied, ^^ It is my treasury 
of wisdom !'' 

"Ah, your New Testament again?'' he remarked, half sneer- 
ingly. " Have you found any thing remarkable in it V^ 

" Yes, something very remarkable ; and I only wonder I did 
not find it at the first reading. Say, can you tell me why it is 
that, while I get tired of all other books after the first or second 
reading, I can read this over and over again without weariness 
— ^yea, I may say, with increasing interest V^ 

This was a question Charles did not understand, or evaded, 
and hurriedly said, " What is that remarkable thing you have 
found?'' 



A DISCOVERY. 103 

^' It is the twenty-third chapter of Matthew. Here; only read 
it.'^ 

After he had looked over it^ ^^ Nothing more V^ he asked. 

^'Is not that enough^ and more than enough? It is a descrip- 
tion of Rome, of the pope, of the clergy.'^ 

^^ You are foolish. Who ever found any such thing in it V^ 

'^ I have found it/' said she ; ^^ and Christ's description of the 
pharisees and scribes, in all respects, suits the pope and the 
clergy. But what was blamed in the Jewish priests as wrong, 
that must also be wrong in Christian priests, for Jesus warns 
against it.'' 

'^ In that you are perfectly right. But what similarity is there 
between the Jewish and the Roman priests ?'' 

^^ If you will patiently listen to me, I will give you an ex- 
planation of the whole chapter, which will be so plain in its refer- 
ence to the Romish clergy that you will have to agree with me. 
It is as though Jesus spoke of Rome, only in other words. Let 
us take up one point after another, and permit me to explain 
each in reference to the circumstances of our own times.'' 

^' Verily, it is a good joke to hear you explain the Scriptures !" 
said Charles, laugjbing. ^^ Of the merits of an opera, or a picture, 
you could speak sensibly; but of the New Testament — oh, signora ! 
it is a rich joke." And he shrugged his shoulders significantly. 

'' Grant all that : I feel my inability; but may not a child re- 
joice in the splendor of a noonday sun ? May not a half-blind 
person speak of the influence of light on his eyes ? May not a 
convalescent patient express his feelings when he begins to feel 
returning health? Hear me, sir, and then judge. Read this 
verse." 

Charles was amazed at the earnestness of the lady, and, mechan- 
ically taking the book, read the following verses : — 

*' Verses 2-4. ^ The scribes and the pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 
All. therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, (according to the 
law of Moses,) that observe and do ; but do not ye after their 
works ; for they say and do not.' " 



104 AN INTERPRETATION. 

He then asked, ^^What lias all this to do with the matter? 
what is its meaning ?'' 

^' This I would interpret thus/^ said she : " The pope, the car- 
dinals, the bishops, — in one word, the priests, — sit on Christ's seat; 
all, therefore, which they bid you observe, according to the law 
of Christy that do ye, — that is, follow them, when they teach 
you these words of Christ : — ' Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself; judge not, that ye be not judged; blessed are the meek, 
the peacemakers ; love your enemies, bless those that curse you, 
bless, and curse not/ But do not ye after their works, for they 
themselves do not what Jesus says. Jesus says, ^ Judge not; do 
not curse your neighbor, not even your enemy, but bless and do 
him good.' But in the confessional they judge all sinners and all 
who differ from them in faith; they curse all heretics and heresy 
most solemnly ; they have an Inquisition, in which they imprison 
and torture those who doubt what they say. The Christian high- 
priests have in many of their bulls frequently cursed those who 
do not obey them. The celebrated bull of Green Thursday, 
which is annually read in Bome on that day, contains nothing 
but curses, of which there are seventeen. It begins with the 
horrible words, ' We excommunicate and curse in the name of 
the Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
and in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul and our own, all 
Hussites, Wicklifites, Lutherans, Zwinglians, Calvinists, Hugue- 
nots, Anabaptists, and apostates from the Christian faith, as well 
as all other heretics, whatever they may call themselves, and also 
those who believe them, receive them, patronize and defend 
them, all those who read their books without our permission, or 
keep, print, and defend them, for whatever reason it may be, 
publicly or privately, whatever the pretext or design may be ; also 
all schismatics, and those who, through obstinacy, withdraw their 
allegiance yro7?i us and from the Boman pope now on the throne.^ '' 

^' Why, really, Giuletta,'' remarked Charles, in a very serious 
tone, ^^your interpretation does not seem much forced. I am 
surprised at your application of the passage/^ 



THE INTEREST INCREASING. 105 

^^ I have not concluded yet;'' and she thus continued, while 
her countenance became more animated and her eyes sparkled 
with increased lustre : — 

'' Now, in opposition to all this, I listen to the apostle Peter, in 
whose name this bull utters such fearful curses, (1 Pet. ii. 15 :) 
^ For so is the will of God, that, witb well-doing, ye may put to 
silence the ignorance of foolish men,' and, (ch. iii. 8 :) ^ Be ye 
all of one mind, having compassion one of another ; love as breth- 
ren; be pitiful; be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or 
railing for railing, but, contrariwise, blessing; hnoioing that ye 
are thereunto called^ that ye should inherit a blessing.' And 
what says the apostle Paul, in whose name the bull also utters its 
maledictions against the unfaithful ? (Rom. xiv. 1 :) ' Him that 
is weak in the faith, receive ye, hut not to doubtful disputations,^ 
— that is, not to judge his doubtful thoughts and views.' (v. 4 :) 
' Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own 
master he standeth or falleth.'' (v. 10 :) ' But why dost thou 
judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? 
for we shall all stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, (v. 13 :) 
^Let us notj therefore^ judge one another any more ; but judge 
this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion 
to fall, in Ms brother s 2vay.' That, dear sir, is language that 
we might expect from an apostle of the benevolent Savior, who 
cursed none of his bitter enemies, but prayed for them on the 
cross, and who (according to Luke ix. 51-56) severely reproved 
the disciples, when they wished to bring fire from heaven upon a 
Samaritan village because the people there would not receive the 
Savior. On the other hand, I have read something in that book,'^ 
pointing to an Italian work in Charles's bookcase, on the Coun- 
cil of Trent, '^ which made me shudder. The holy bishops as- 
sembled at Trent closed that great Catholic synod by a general 
acclamation, which was done at the suggestion of the presiding 
officer. Cardinal de Lothringen. Toward the close, the cardinal 
cried out, ^ Curse all heretics 1' and all the reverend bishops, 
these followers of Christ and the apostles, responded as with one 



106 PLAIN TRUTH. 

voice^ ^ Curse, curse, curse I^ Oh, then an angel should have 
thundered among them the words of Paul, ^ Judge not another's 
doubtful thoughts ; bless, and curse not !' But hear more of our 
text, (v. 4 :) ' For they bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, 
and lay them on men's shoulders ; but they themselves will not 
move them with one of their fingers/ ^^ 

Charles contemplated his friend with increasing admiration^ 
and he was about to speak ; but she continued : — 

^' I have recently heard this explained in reference to oppres- 
sive doctrines, which the later teachers of the law introduced in 
addition to the law of Moses, and with which they oppressed the 
people. It then occurred to me that our ecclesiastics had also 
bound a burden on the laity, for instance, that all the laity must 
confess their sins and smallest infirmities to the priests; that, 
though men repent of their sins, yet they must do works of 
penance, pray paternosters, but, especially, bestow offerings to 
churches, monasteries, and priests ; that, for forty days, no flesh 
must be eaten ; that mass must be read for the dead ; that the 
indulgence of the church must be purchased ; and that all that 
the priests say must be unhesitatingly believed/^ 

'' Stop, Giuletta ; there you say what is not true. Such a 
blind faith our priests do not demand/' 

'' What !" she exclaimed; '' will you not believe the holy Coun- 
cil of Trent V 

^' Did the Council establish that V^ asked Charles. 

^^Does it not curse in all the canons all those who teach differ- 
ently from the bishops of that Council V^ 

'' Yes, that is true.'' 

^^ Permit me 1 Please to read here wnat the Council says in 
the thirteenth session : — ^ The Holy Synod, in establishing the 
doctrine of the Lord's Supper, hereafter forbids all faithful 
Christians from believing, teaching, and preaching any thing else 
than is here determined.' Precisely this rule is found in the 
twenty-first session. But let us further hear what our Savior 
says : — 



A LAY PREACHER. 107 

^' Verse 5. ' But all their works they do to be seen of men ; they 
make broad their ph^lacterieS; and enlarge the borders of their 
garments.' 

" The Jewish rabbis or teachers of the law, and the priests,, 
wore strips of parchment with portions of the law inscribed upon 
them, bound round their wrists and their foreheads, or attached 
to the borders of their garments, that they might appear very 
zealous for the law before the people. Now, our priests do not 
exactly this. It would look very singular, indeed, if the priests 
of the Inquisition, who know no mercy, would wear this passage 
on their foreheads, — ' Blessed are the merciful ;' or if the pope, 
the cardinals, and other priests, would wear on Green Thursday, 
when the bull of seventeen curses is read, this passage, — 'BlesSj 
and curse not J But our priests are rich in splendid mass-vest- 
ments, in palls, in robes, violet garments, red hats, and all pos- 
sible gorgeous apparel that can be imagined; and the pope has a 
triple crown towering on his head, by which we are easily re- 
minded of the pictures representing the tower of Babel. And 
how much is there not in the church service, which seems to be 
intended merely to show off the priest before the people ! Take 
the mass, for example. Does it not glorify the power of the 
priest, who, through the act of consecration, creates the body of 
the God-man, locks it in the pyx, and carries it about, much 
more than the power of Christ, who subjects his body to the de- 
claration of the priest, and more than the power of God, who 
obeys the declaration of the priest ? And the holy sacrament of 
confession : — does it not much more establish the power of the 
priest, who can forgive and retain sins, open and shut the king- 
dom of heaven, than the mercy of God, who is gracious or not, 
according to the command and judgment of the priest V 

^' Giuletta, cease ; you are becoming a heretic V^ 

^^Not exactly; I am only translating the words of our Savior 
into the language of our times. He says further, (v. 6, 7:) 
' They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in 
synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of 



]08 HISTORICAL FACTS. 

men, Rabbi, Eabbi/ This suits our times. The holy father, as 
vicegerent of God and Christ, claims a higher rank than all 
emperors and kings; his legates desire to have the preference 
above the ambassadors of all other princes; in the councils they 
look for the chief seats ! I remember perfectly well with what 
triumph the good fathers in Naples, who brought me up, used to 
tell me that the mighty emperor Frederic Barbarossa in Venice 
held the stirrup Avhile the pope mounted his horse, and that an- 
other emperor, Henry IV., stood three nights as a penitent in the 
open air, before Pope Gregory VII., at the castle of Canusium. 
At that time I rejoiced at this not a little. But hear now what 
the Savior says to his disciples and apostles, (v. 8-10 :) ^ But be 
ye not called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ, and all 
ye are brethren ; and call no man your fatlier upon the earth : 
for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
masters : for one is your Master, even Christ.^ 

^^ I cannot but be convinced that Christ here spoke in pro- 
phetic spirit of the pope ; for every word suits him, just as if it 
had been lately written. Tell me, what is the proper meaning 
of Rabbi V 

'' Rabbi,^' said Charles, ^^ was an honorary title of the Jewish 
teachers, and literally means exalted^ most excellent J^ 

^^ You see, it suits the cardinals,^^ continued she, ^^who bear 
the title of eminence^ which precisely means exalted, most excel- 
lent. But when the Savior says that they shall call no ouq father 
upon earth, because God alone is worthy of that distinguished name, 
he certainly forbids us to call the pope ' holy father.' If none 
of the apostles were permitted to bear that title, what authorizes 
their successors to bear it ? That epithet holi/ is also offensive 
to me. When the Savior was addressed by one as 'good master,^ 
he reproved him, (Matt. xix. 16-17,) and said, ' There is none 
good but one, that is, God.' ' Good master' is about equivalent 
to our present expression ^ holy father.' With this phrase, ' holy 
father,' Jesus prayed to God, (John xvii. 11,) and hence I main- 
tain that it is wrong to apply it to a man. I will never again call 



FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 109 

the pope ^ holy father/ Neither should he be called the supreme 
head of the Christian world^ for it is said^ ' One is your master, 
or supreme head^ even Christ/ But hear further, (v. 13 :) ' But 
wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites I for ye shut up 
the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye neither go in your- 
selves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in/ This 
I translate in a twofold way. First, our priests shut up from 
the laity the writings of the evangelists and apostles, which show 
the way to the kingdom of Christ, — yea, they are the very doors 
of it. They declare it as ruinous to the soul, if a layman wishes 
to read for himself what his Savior and the apostles said for all, 
and not only for the priests. They themselves do not read it, but 
rather the breviary and the papal bulls, the canonists and the 
fathers of the church, and thus neither do they go in ; for of the 
kingdom of heaven they have made an earthly kingdom with 
great treasures, many subjects, and royal splendor, in comparison 
to which the kingdom of heaven may appear to many a very poor 
thing. Secondly, they shut the kingdom of heaven, because they 
do not zealously exhort the people to a Christian life, but so pro- 
minently hold forth the hearing of mass, fasting, a blind faith in 
the instructions of^he priests, praying the paternoster, and other 
such holy works, that Christian virtue is overlooked. For what 
is the most shocking of our sins when we confess to a priest ? 
That we are passionate, envious, unfaithful, — that we lied, cheated, 
were unchaste, took unrighteous gain ; it is true the priest does 
not justify all these, but we are absolved from them on easy pen- 
ance. But tell him that you ate meat on a fast-day, — that you 
read a heretical book, — that you laughed at a priest, — that you 
doubted the efficacy of the holy water or the picture of a virgin, 
— then you may be certain of not getting through without a severe 
penance, and you may take care lest you fall into the hands of 
the holy office.^' 

" Giuletta-, I pray you, cease ! Your talk disturbs my mind,'' 
said Charles, pensively. 

'' Perhaps you might with more propriety say your conscience ^^ 

10 



110 RELUCTANT COMPLIANCE. 

archly replied she. ^^ Fll put your politeness to the test, and 
you must hear me. Pray^ good sir, do me the favor to read the 
fourteenth verse V * 

He could not refuse, and, reluctantly taking the book, he read, 
in a mumbling, indistinct voice : — 

'' Terse 14. ' Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees ; for ye devour 
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers ; therefore 
ye shall receive the greater damnation.' ^^ 

He then asked, ^^And what has this to do with it?'' 

^^ I will tell you,'' said she. ^^ This verse reminds me of the 
incalculable treasures which our priesthood possess in most coun- 
tries, and which they have received from pious souls, to pray for 
them that they might be delivered from purgatory, to give them 
indulgence, and secure heaven for them. A Spaniard, belonging 
to the embassy to Home, once said that the priesthood in Spain 
had twice more income than the king. How it is in Italy I know 
well enough. I have also heard of not a few instances of rich 
Vv^idows, who disinherited their poor relations and bequeathed all 
their property to an order, monastery, or church, which is the 
same as to the priesthood. 

'^ Since you are such a capital reader of the Scriptures," said 
she, smiling, ^^ suppose you read another verse." 

He could not help smiling himself, well discerning her irony, 
and, this time, with a little more confidence, read verse 15 : — 
^^ Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye com- 
pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and, when he is made, 
ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." 

He then remarked, '' Surely you will not disapprove of men 
attempting to convert errorists to the true faith ?" 

^^Not in the least," replied she. ^^ Neither does Jesus mean 
that. The missionary societies for the heathen have always been 
much admired by me. What Jesus condemns is, partly that the 
Jewish teachers sought to make a heathen not only a Jew, but a 
pliarisee, and the latter was more important to them than the 
former ; partly, that they compassed sea and land^ not to make 



AN IMPATIENT HEARER. Ill 

him a good man, but a pharisee. In this respect it suits our 
priesthood. Their zeal is not directed toward making Chris- 
tianSj but Catholics. If a Protestant Christian comes to Home, 
immediately the net is cast around him on all sides, just as if he 
were yet a heathen. To make a Catholic of him is so great a 
triumph, that the most degraded and dissolute subjects are not 
slighted, who, as Catholics, are not a whit better than they were 
before, but often worse and more daring in iniquity, because now 
they hope by absolutions, indulgences, and penances, to be de- 
livered from all guilt, which they did not believe before. ' To 
compass sea and land^ also signifies to employ all means, good or 
bad, to make a Catholic. Money, or a promise, or a marriage, 
or a pension, or protection, or an office, or any thing else, is used 
as a means of making Catholics out of Christians, — that is, to in- 
duce them to hear mass, to fast, to pray the rosary, to adore the 
saints and Mary, and to regard all heretics as damned. For often 
the whole change of a man consists in nothing more than in the 
adoption of these external signs of Catholicism. 

'' As you have the book in your hand, do favor me with a few 
more verses/^ she begged. 

^^ Indeed, signora, this is a new office for me to be reading the 
Scriptures while^a lady interprets them. How long will your 
preaching endure ? I never liked long sermons. ^^ 

^^Paul says, ^ Let your women keep silence in the churches;^ 
but, as I am not in a church, I can preach, and you have too much 
politeness to retire or fall asleep : so read my text.^^ 

He read verse 16 : — '' Wo unto you, ye blind guides, which say, 
Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing ; but whoso- 
ever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor V^ Verse 
18. '^ And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but 
whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. ^^ 

" This,^' said the female expounder, ^^ reminds me of the 
Jesuits, who constitute such a considerable and now so highly- 
esteemed a portion of our priesthood, and teach, as did the phari- 
sees, that a false oath [ is nothing,^ if only something else is 



112 THE INTEREST WELL SUSTAINED. 

thought of at the time^ or something else added in thought. For ex- 
ample : if a man swear that he had not done something, (although 
he had done it,) he must only think at the same time, ' not from 
my youth up — not at another time/ The popes also occur to 
me, who often absolved subjects free from the oath of fidelity to 
their monarchs, or monarchs from the oath sworn to their sub- 
jects, and generally claim the right of annulling an oath sworn 
before God. Pope Clemens YI. gave authority to the confessor 
of the King of France to absolve this hing, his wife, and all his 
successors, in consideration of some works of penance, from all 
oaths the observance of which would be unpleasant, only with 
the exception of the oaths and vows relating to religious affairs. 
This the good fathers in Naples related to me as a proof of the 
great power of the pope, and I admired it very much at that 
time. But now I think, when one has sworn by the Almighty, 
it is a most heinous sin if a man undertakes to absolve him from 
it, and that such a man thereby insolently elevates himself above 
God. The good fathers also told me, for the purpose of inspiring 
me with reverence for the saints, that Louis XI., King of France, 
believed himself bound by no oath but one sworn by the relics 
of the holy Lupus, and they maintained that an oath was much 
more holy and binding if taken by the relics of a saint or martyr. 
Pray, read verse 23.^^ 

Charles was now fairly entrapped, and he could not avoid it. 
Besides, he was beginning to be deeply interested himself, and 
especially did he admire the aptness and clearness of her inter- 
pretations. It was an application of Scripture he had never 
heard before. He read verse 23 : — '' Wo unto you, scribes and 
pharisees, hypocrites I for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and 
cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, 
judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done, and 
not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at 
a gnat and swallow a camel V^ 

When he had read it, she remarked, '' Please to read also the 
note written on the mardn of the book.'^ 



EATING FLESH. 113 

Ho complied^ and read, ^^ Of trifles jou make a great deal; of 
important things nothing/' 

'' Giuletta^ did you insert that note ? it is in your handwriting/' 
he asked. 

The lady smiled, and, without giving a positive answer, said, 
^^In the view of our priesthood, it is a greater sin to neglect 
hearing mass than the voice of justice and philanthropy; to re- 
fuse obedience to the priests than to deny fidelity to God and 
man ; to eat flesh during a fast than to be unchaste. 

'^ Now, the 25th verse, if you please.^' 

He read verse 25:- — ^^ Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, 
hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and platter^ 
but within they are full of extortion and excess.'^ 

" This relates,^' she continued, " to the great importance which 
our priests attach to fasting and other mere external works of 
penance, which do not reform the internal man, but leave him 
full of all moral uncleanness. And the matter becomes still 
worse; for fasting is ranked among those exercises by which 
men can atone for sin and remove its punishment, — that is, pun- 
ishment for uncleanness of heart.'^ 

'' But Jesus himself fasted,^ ^ said he, ^' and so did the apostles. 
Shall not, then, tire Christians do it ? Have you not read that 
the Savior once fasted forty days; and do you not know that on 
this the great quadragesimal fast was founded V^ 

'' I know that very well/' she replied ; " but there is still a 
great difference. First, Christ and the apostles did it voluntarily ; 
hence, every Christian should be left free. Again, Christ did it 
on an extraordinary occasion, when, by severe examination, he 
prepared himself for the hardships which he was to endure from 
man. Further, Jesus and the apostles did not practise it as 
something meritorious, as atoning for sin or removing punish- 
ment. Finally, they fasted so that they became liungry. But 
in our fasting we are satisfied^ yea, crammed full. For our fast- 
ing is abstinence from. jHesJiy just as if that prevented devotion, 
for it oppresses no stomach, and is easy of digestion. On the 

10* 



114 EATING FLESH. 

other hand, we eat all kind of indigestible food made of flour, 
and other victuals prepared in all the refinements of cookery, 
which only oppress the stomach and stupefy the mind. Is not 
this rank folly ? And who can persuade himself that the flesh 
of fish, which the Catholic fast allows, is not flesh ? I should 
like to know how our church came to the singular fancy of de- 
claring that the flesh of fish is not flesh ?^' 

^^ It was believed justifiable to except fish in the prohibition 
of eating flesh,^' said he, ^' because Jesus in the wilderness, ac- 
cording to Matt. xiv. 19, where he probably fasted, had bread 
and fish with him ; and because, after his resurrection, according 
to John xxi. 10, 13, he also ate bread and fish. Reference was 
also made to what Paul says, (1 Cor. xv. 39 :) ^ All flesh is not 
the same flesh ; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another 
flesh of beasts, another of fshes, and another of birds. ^^' 

'^ Let us examine these passages of Scripture a little more 
closely,^^ she observed. ^^ Where is it recorded, in Matt. xiv. 19, 
that Jesus then fasted ? There is not a single trace of it in the 
text, and the conjecture is altogether gratuitous. But that he 
had fishes was not his mere choice, but the consequence of his 
being with the apostles at the Sea of Grennesaret, as the 13th and 
22d verses clearly show. The same may be said of John xxi. 
10, 13, where the Redeemer ate fish with the apostles for this 
reason : — because they had just caught some in the sea. As it 
respects the passage, 1 Cor. xv. 39, it is almost ridiculous to 
apply it to this subject. The apostle wishes to show that the 
future body at the resurrection will not be formed like the pre- 
sent body, and illustrated it by examples, namely, that already 
in the form of earthly bodies there is a great difi'erence. He 
does not seek this difference in the flesh of four-footed beasts, 
fishes, and birds, but in the difference of the form and the parts 
of their body. But this you must acknowledge : — that the apostle 
ascribes a body to fishes; consequently it is absolutely ridiculous 
to conclude, from that, that the body of fishes is not flesh. ^' 

'^ But do you not consider it an exercise well pleasing to God, 



ROMISH FASTING. 115 

and conducive to self-government, if we occasionally abstain from 
palatable food V he asked. ^^The genuine Christian, who desires 
to gratify his lusts, must first be strong enough to deny his palate 
the accustomed food/' 

^^ That may be, if it is voluntarily^ she replied, ^^ and not com- 
pulsory; it might answer, if men did not substitute for flesh a 
variety of other delicate victuals. But that men please God by 
a selection of particular food, — that they defile themselves on a 
fast-day by food which is allowed on other days, — ^that especially 
there is something meritorious in it, — this, dear sir, I no longer 
believe, because the Savior and his apostles have taught me dif- 
ferently. For Jesus says, (Matt. xv. 11, 18-20,) ' Not that which 
goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out 
of the mouth, this defileth a man. But those things which pro- 
ceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile 
the man ; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders^ 
adulteries, fornications, theft, false witnesses, blasphemies. These 
are tilings lohich defile a man. But to eat tcitli icnivashed hands 
defileth not a man/ So, then, it is not eating flesh. ^ For the 
kingdom of God is not meat and drink/ says Paul, (Romans xiv. 
17,) ^but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
For he that in tfese serveth Christ is acceptable to God and 
approved of men.' This is surely expressive language of the 
apostle, according to which no essential importance should ever 
have been attached to fasting and other works of penance. Yea, 
the same apostle warns us against teachers of false doctrines, 
(1 Tim. iv. 3,) who ^forbid to marry, and command to abstain from 
meats, which God hath created to he received with thanksgiving */ 
and he assures us (verse 8,) Hhat bodily exercise profiteth little, 
but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the 
life that now is, and of that which is to come.' I will fast no 
more, dear sir ; but I will exercise myself in godliness. 

^^Yerse 29. ^Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! 
because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the 
sepulchres of the righteous, and say. If we had been in the days 



116 THE SERMON CONTINUED. 

of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in 
the blood of the prophets. ^ 

^^When I think how many churches, chapels, and monasteries 
are dedicated to the Savior, the mother Mary, the apostles, the 
saints and martyrs among us, and what great honor we pay 
them, it has often occurred to me how it would be if, in our day^ 
Jesus, or Peter and Paul, were to revisit some rigid Catholic 
country — for instance, Spain or Italy — and were to teach the same 
things which we now read in the writings of the Evangelists and 
apostles, whether they would be regarded as good Christians, or 
not rather as heretics, if they administered the cup in the sacra- 
ment, attached no particular importance to fasting, called none 
father or lioly father ^ made eternal life dependent on obedience 
to the commandments of God, and recognised no pope, no service 
of the saints, or mass, holy water, monastic life, penance, indul- 
gences, auricular confession, and many other things by which 
Catholics are now distinguished? I should think that the Savior 
and the apostles would not be permitted to come to Spain or 
Italy, and would be acknowledged as good Christians only here 
among the Protestants. In Spain or Italy they would cer- 
tainly fall into the hands of the Inquisition, and be regarded 
by the pope as Jesus was regarded by the Jewish high-priest, 
Caiaphas.^' 

^^Giuletta, you are surely no longer a Catholic! you have 
become a Protestant ! Take care and do not let your opinions be 
known V^ 

^^ Whether I am yet a Catholic, or have already become a 
Protestant, I really do not know myself. But this I know, that I 
am a Christ Ian , and am surely a genuine Christian, for I have 
been taught by the discourses of Christ in the Evangelists, and by 
the doctrine of the apostles in their writings alone. I do not 
appear to myself to be a Catholic any more, at least I am not a 
good one. But I do not give myself any trouble about that, if I 
only dare believe that I am a good Christian. But I must speak 
about it, sir; the truth must not be concealed, so that others also 



TRADITION. 117 

may be brouglit to acknowledge it^ and not be strengtbened in 
tbeir errors/' 

^^It may do well enough here; but at the seminary you would 
soon be silenced/' observed Charles. 

^^ Yes/' said she. ^^I know full well how the spirit of inquiry 
is crushed there. Even Protestant young ladies dare not express 
their sentiments freely; and I have seen how Catholics are 
treated who show any heretical tendencies. 

^^Bad enough that there they know no better means of main- 
taining their faith than by force. It does not become the suc- 
cessor of the apostle Peter to employ force; for when Peter (Matt. 
xxvi. 51, &c.) drew his sword in defence of Jesus, the Lord said, 
^ Put up again thy sword into his place ; for all they that take the 
sword shall perish by the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot 
now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of angels?' I should think that thus the pope 
should wait, until God promotes the true faith in a proper man- 
ner, and not by force. Jesus did not establish an Inquisition; he 
did not allow it; he did not command it; he did not employ it." 

^^I see, Griuletta, that you are so well versed in the Scriptures 
that you have an answer for every thing. But you do wrong in 
confining yourself^xclusively to the Bible. For we have tradi- 
tion j which from the apostles, through the bishops and holy 
church fathers, has come down to us, which we must highly honor, 
for it determines many things of which the New Testament con- 
tains nothing, and settles other things besides." 

^^To discuss and judge the subject of tradition requires more 
learning than I possess," observed Giuletta. ^^But this I know: 
— that it dare not contradict that which the Evangelists and 
apostles have loritten^ for then they must have contradicted them- 
selves; and that a knowledge of and belief in tradition are not 
reckoned among the things demanded as necessary to salvation. 
For in none of the many passages in which we are taught what 
is essential to salvation, is one word said about tradition. The 
whole matter appears to me very strange. Suppose your father 



lis GOOD REASONING. 

had made a written will in presence of a magistrate and honest 
witnesses, and after his death there should come one of his friends 
and say, ^Your father also made an oral will and intrusted it 
to me, and in it he has appointed me your guardian, trans- 
ferred to me a portion of his paternal privileges, and left me a 
handsome legacy/ what would you think? If the oral will fre- 
quently contradicted the written one, annulled many parts of it, 
contained a number of additional articles, made new dispositions 
of the property, and, finally, was very much to the advantage of 
the man who said your father had intrusted it to him, would 
you attach as much credit to it as to the written one ? Or would 
any person find fault with you for adhering exclusively to the 
written one?^^ 

^^Your simile is lame/' 

'' It may be lame, but it goes ! I wish it would go into your 
heart F' 

" I really believe you wish that I should abandon Catholicism/' 

^^ I wish you were as I am, — a disciple of Christ and the apostles, 
and ceased being a disciple of the pope and the priesthood/^ 

^^Then you are no longer the latter?^' 

^^No! I am no longer such unconditionally, only in as far as I 
see that our priests teach the doctrines of the New Testament/' 

^^Then you are a Protestant!" 

^^It may be; but the gospel was in existence before the pope 
and all the cardinals/' — (With deep solemnity.) '' Sir ! I am a poor 
orphan; I stand alone in the world; my kindred are also unknown 
to me; I was left truly destitute. You are my only friend on 
earth ! But, even at the peril of your displeasure, I will not conceal 
from you what is in my heart." (With excitement.) " Really, sir, 
I have become a better woman, even though I yet may be a sin- 
ner; a faithful friend also have you got in me. Hear what 
occurred to me when I left the seminary with you. I cannot 
conceal it from you any longer. I once more confessed to Father 

M , who belongs to the Jesuits, and requested his blessing 

on my journey. ^Go in God^s name, my child,' said he; ^but 



A STRANGE DEVELOPMENT. 119 

do not forget what you owe the holy mother^ the church. You 
are going in the company of a straying sheep^ which has but 
lately been brought to the true faith. Much of the poison of 
heresy imbibed in his youth yet remains in him, and it is to be 
feared that he will again be drawn over to the cursed Lutheran 
heresy by his family and friends. The mother of God has en- 
joined it upon you, as a good Catholic, to watch X)ver his faith. 
Observe him closely; pry into the conversation between him and 
his family and friends; if they become too familiar, dexterously try 
to excite discord and mistiiist between them. You may also em- 
ploy falsehood; for it is not sin when it is done for the honor of 
God, and the church will absolve you from it. But above all, 
my child, do not neglect to communicate every thing that occurs 

to him to the reverend Father N , who will give you further 

instinictions. But this correspondence you must keep secret, and 
especially do not let him discover that you are watching him. 
Be zealous and wise; you shall be rewarded. The reverend father 
will faithfully provide for you.^ At that time, sir, when I re- 
ceived this commission, I was very glad, and believed I would 
perform a good work and merit heaven if I executed it. But 
since this book fell into my hands, and I have read it, I have 
changed my mind. You can be easy ! I will not betray you ; I 
will not sow discord between you and your parents, neither will I 

write to Father N .'' 

Charles was thunderstruck at this announcement. He could 
not conceal the emotion which agitated him. He felt ashamed 
and indignant that the lady had been employed to watch him. 

Father N was a bosom friend of Colbert, who had converted 

him. He saw plainly that both priests had acted in concert. 
He had become a Catholic from such honest and deep conviction, 
that it mortified him exceedingly that any should yet doubt his 
sincerity and firmness. This apprehension of theirs appeared to 
him at the same time irreconcilable with a good cause, which 
trusts alone to its merits. And then the commission about the 
secret correspondence and discord with his parents ! With what 



120 A NEW QUESTION. 

snares was he beset, if Giuletta was not honest! He felt it 
painfully that they did not seek him, but the honor of the church; 
and it now was clear to him, what a friend once said to him, that 
they make proselytes, not that they may be saved, but that the 
church may be filled. 



CHAPTER XI. 

TRADITION AND THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH. 

When the father returned, the evening conversations were 
resumed, and the subject of discussion was, JVhence do we derive 
a knowledge of Christianity ? Charles maintained that, besides 
the Holy Scriptures, tradition was a source of this knowledge, 
and defined tradition to be that oral instruction in matters of 
faith, morals, church ceremonies, and church government, given 
by the apostles and transmitted by the Christian bishops in an 
uninterrupted series. He held this to be an essential point in 
the faith of Catholics, and hence the Council of Trent has estab- 
lished it, (in the first decree of session 4:) ^^The holy synod 
adopts all the books of the Old and New Testaments, and the 
traditions, those which relate to faith as well as those which 
relate to morals, with equal pious reverence. He who wilfully 
rejects the traditions, let him be accursed.'^ 

The father acknowledged that he was not well acquainted with 
the nature of tradition, and requested Bernhard to converse with 
Charles on that subject, with which he readily complied. 

^^You will grant, dear friend,'^ began Charles, ^Hhat the 
apostles, when they taught in the churches, must have said 
many more things than we now find in their epistles.^' 

'^More? certainly,^^ granted Bernhard; ^^but whether any 
thing else than their epistles contain, is a question the affirma- 
tive of which you cannot prove.'^ 



TRADITION. 121 

'^ I am satisfied witli the morey whicli you grant. You will 
further acknowledge, that all the epistles are merely occasional 
writings, in which the apostles do not treat of the whole system 
of faith and morals, but only partially, just as they found occa- 
sion in the circumstances of the churches. '' 

^^That I cannot wholly grant/^ said Bernhard. ^^It does not 
apply at least to the evangelists, the epistles to the Eomans and 
Hebrews, neither to the epistle of James nor the first of John, 
for their general design is to instruct the reader in all that relates 
to Christ and his doctrines. ^^ 

^' But you will grant that Paul refers to this oral instruction 
which he gave to the churches. 2 Thes. ii. 15; 1 Cor. xi. 2, 
23, 24; 1 Tim. vi. 20.^' 

'' I grant this, and confess that we Protestants would diligently 
search and highly esteem this oral instruction, if we had it ; for it 
would afibrd an explanation of many parts of the apostolic writ- 
ings. We only regret that this instruction is lost, and that 
there is nowhere any credible account of it.^^ 

" What r^ exclaimed Charles, " do you not know that this is the 
tradition of the Catholic church, that it was transmitted by the 
bishops, and gradually introduced into the writings of the church 
fathers and into the-^decrees of the councils?^' 

^^This your church maintains, but it is not so. I have read 
the church fathers, and know how it is with respect to tradition/^ 
replied Bernhard. 

'' But you must admit the general ground for tradition, namely : 
wliatever icas helieved hy Christians at all times and all places, 
from the heginning of Christianity , must necessarily he regarded 
as having been taught hy the apostles themselves. For it would 
be impossible that an error should have become a general doc- 
trine from the beginning,^ ^ maintained Charles. 

^^I can admit all that, and yet you will gain nothing by it. 
What was taught in the beginning by all Christians, that the 
Apostolic Confession contains, which our church also possesses. 
It is that which the fathers until the third century call the tradi- 

11 



122 OLD DOCTRINES. 

tion of faitli ; that was tlie general faith of all churches^ to which 
they appeal, and which they oppose to the new doctrine of the 
heretics. Notliing else. They have nothing of your mass, the 
adoration of saints, the pope and his power, purgatory, confession 
and absolution, withholding the cup in the Lord's supper, tran- 
substantiation, seven sacraments, indulgence, pilgrimages, the 
rosary, holy water; and I boldly challenge you to the proof 
that any of the church fathers of the first four centuries ever 
appealed to tradition with respect to these things. On the con- 
trary, you will find that it is the doctrine of the apostles^ creed, or 
a similar short summary of general doctrine, that they understand 
hy tradition. ^^ 

^^I can scarcely believe this,^^ observed Charles. 

^^Then only hear,^^ continued Bernhard. ^^The great church 
father Tertullian, who flourished at the end of the second and 
beginning of the third century, contends in his book de Prce- 
scriptione against the errorists of his time, who gave out that 
their doctrine was taught by the apostles as a secret doctrine, 
Tertullian on the contrary maintains that those churches, which 
were undoubtedly founded by the apostles, knew nothing of that 
kind, but taught differently, and that the general doctrine of the 
apostolic churches must be regarded as the 'rule of faitli.^ He 
calls tradition the rule of faith, but he also mentions what it con- 
tains. This he does in the thirteenth chapter of his book, where 
he gives a summary of Christian faith very similar to that con- 
tained in the apostles' creed. 

^^ Besides Tertullian, let us only hear the celebrated bishop of 
Lyons, Irenseus, who died about the year 202, and who in his 
book against the heretics also refers to the tradition of the 
general church, and in the tenth chapter of the first book writes 
the following confession, which you will find very like that of 
Tertullian.^' 

He read it, and then continued: — ^^This faith, adds Irenseus, 
Hhe Christian churches in all countries held as unanimously 
as if they had all lived in one house. Let the learned alter 



INFALLIBILITY. 123 

nothing of the sense of this faith, but only seek to illustrate it 
further/ 

^^From the latter you see, dear friend, that at that time they 
had no tradition about the more specific explanation of these 
doctrines, and that the faith generally adopted by the old church 
fathers was nothing more than what is here set down, all of 
which agrees precisely with the apostolic creed, and that, as no 
man will deny, accords perfectly with the New Testament. 
Every thing additional, then, which was subsequently introduced 
under the name of tradition, was not transmitted from an- 
tiquity, but is neioli/ -invented doctrine, which can by no means 
be regarded as apostolic. With respect to the more explicit 
illustration of these doctrines, which, as Irenaeus says, was left 
free to the opinions of the learned, there was so little unanimity 
among the church fathers, that the eJesuit Daniel Pefcau, in his 
learned work on the doctrines of faith, himself grants that it is 
uncertain what the fathers of the first four centuries taught 
about the divinity of the Son and of the Spirit. Paul Sarpi also 
says, in his celebrated history, that the bishops assembled there 
were very doubtful what authority they should ascribe to tradi- 
tion, and that only at last the numerous Italian bishops and their 
well-directed threats brought it about that the council ascribed 
equal authority to tradition with the Scriptures.^' 

^^I must indeed grant you all this,'' said Charles; ^^but still 
I justify the judicial authority of tradition by the infallibility of 
the church, even if this authority was established at a later day. 
The church has the spirit of God, and hence cannot err; and Paul 
himself calls her (1 Tim. iii. 15) the pillar and ground of the 
truth." 

^^As respects this passage," Bernhard replied, ^^Paul can call 
the church the pillar of truth, — that is, of the Christian doctrine, 
—and yet nothing follows from it in favor of her infallibility. 
For it is the church through which the Christian doctrine is 
maintained and propagated in the world. Without the Chris- 
tian church the existence of Christianity cannot be conceived. 



124 INFALLIBILITY. 

But the words ^pillar and ground of tlie truth' do not even 
belong to the word churchy but to the following verse. That, 
the Catholic translator of the New Testament, Van Ess, has 
himself acknowledged, and properly united them with the fol- 
lowing verse. He has it, ' The mystery of godliness is the pillar 
and ground of the truth, and, without controversy, great,' &c. 
But when you say that the church has the spirit of God, and 
hence is infallible, I ask you, whom do you comprehend as the 
church?'^ 

^^The bishops assembled in council,'' answered Charles. 

^^Have the priests alone the spirit of God, and not also the 
laity ?" asked Bernhard. 

^^The priests alone for the decision of doctrines, for in that 
the laity have no voice. But, for sanctification, the laity have 
also the spirit of God," said Charles. 

Bernhard continued: — ^^But does not John write to all Chris- 
tians, (1 John ii. 20,) ^ Ye have an unction from the Holy One, 
and know all things' ? Does not Paul say to all Christians at 
Ephesus, (Eph. i. 16,) ^ I cease not to give thanks for you, 
making mention of you in my prayers, that the Father of glory 
may give unto you the spirit of loisdoni and revelation in the 
knowledge of him ; the eyes of your understanding being en- 
lightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,' &c. ? 
And on what grounds will you divide the gift of the Spirit, which 
affords both wisdom and sanctification, and appropriate to the 
priests the wisdom, and to the laity only the sanctification ? 
Who are ye, that ye thus prescribe to the Spirit of God and set 
limits to his operations ? And now, dear friend, in what light 
will the infallibility of this priesthood appear, if you inquire into 
the contradictions of which they are guilty ? A few examples 
will sufiice. The doctrine of Arius was condemned by the 
Council of Nice in 325, but was declared as true by the Council 
of Antioch in 341, and was finally again condemned by the 
Council of Constantinople in 381, through the influence of 
the Emperor Theodosius. The doctrine of Eutychus prevailed 



CHURCH HISTORY. 125 

at the Council ot Ephesus in 449, and was afterward condemned 
at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The great Councils of Con- 
stance (1414) and Basle (1431) solemnly declared that a general 
council was superior to the pope ; and the high-priests at Rome 
declared, with equal solemnity, in their bulls, that that was a 
wicked heresy. Where, then, is the infallibility of the priest- 
hood ? And is not the whole priesthood of the Eastern church 
in continual controversy with the Western priesthood on many 
points of faith? You may now, then, give up this infallibility.^^ 

'' But if you hold the church as fallible,'^ observed Charles, 
^^ then the case might occur that she would embrace errors, and 
they would gradually become so numerous that the truth would 
be wholly obscured — ^yea, finally altogether lost. Thus the object 
of Christianity would be totally frustrated, which God cannot 
permit; and hence it is reasonable to infer that, by his Spirit, he 
would make the church infallible.'^ 

^' The church is composed of men, and all men are subject to 
error,'' replied Bernhard, ^^consequently also the priests. But 
such an exclusive order of men as the priesthood of the Catholic 
church is exposed to double danger of erring, because it has an 
interest peculiar to itself, — a party interest, — and it is very natural 
and almost unavoidable that its own advantage would sway its 
judgment and influence all decisions. Great as has been the 
number of errorists, by you called heretics, from the first century 
to the present day, yet Christianity has always continued to exist, 
and will yet longer endure. The infallibility imputed by you to 
the priesthood alone, makes the matter worse in every respect. 
That the priesthood is not infallible, we have already seen, and 
history abundantly proves it. Even all the principal heretics 
came out of this infallible priesthood. The great presbyter, Ter- 
tullian, became a Montanist. The arch-heretic xlrius was a pres- 
byter in Alexandria ; Apolinaris, bishop of Laodicea ; Paul of 
Samossa, bishop of Antioch ; Nestorious, bishop of Constantinople ; 
Maletius, bishop of Antioch, — all these became heretics and 
founders of heresies. The bishops of half the Christian world 

11* 



126 STRONG PROOF. 

were Arians in the middle of tlie fourth century, and vrere de- 
posed en masse by the Emperor Theodosius. Great and lasting 
heresies on the doctrine of the Trinity and the two natures in 
Christ were particularly prevalent among the priesthood, and not 
among the laity; and the whole priesthood was, on account of 
these heresies, split into parties, which mutually condemned each 
other at councils. How can men ascribe infallibility to such a 
priesthood ? And who originated the idea of this infallibility ? 
Not the laity, but the priesthood itself. You see, then, that the 
tradition of the Catholic church, the truth of which is grounded 
on the infallibility of the priesthood, has no foundation, and that 
the evangelical church is perfectly right in holding to the writ- 
ten word of God in the Holy Scriptures, but not to that which a 
fallible priesthood in later ages wishes to declare as the word of 
God/^ 

*^You have completely vanquished me, dear friend, and I 
really do not know what more to oppose to your arguments,'' 
Charles acknowledged. ^^ It is true that half of the priesthood of 
the Christian world was once Arian, and it was only the political 
usurpation of the Emperor Theodosius that overthrew the Arian 
bishops. That I certainly do not know how to reconcile with the 
infallibility of tradition and of the priesthood.'' 

^^I can add another ground, my son," now said the father, 
"which was always sufficiently strong to me to reject that tra- 
dition professedly transmitted by the priesthood. Among the 
Jews in the time of Christ there was also an oral tradition, to 
which the pharisees and scribes attached great importance, and 
through which, just as in the Catholic church, many ceremonies, 
opinions, and precepts were established, which the Mosaic law 
did not contain. But Jesus rejected this tradition most deci- 
sively; only read Matt. xv. 1-9." 

" But the Mosaic law contained every thing the Jew was to 
believe and practise," observed the son. ^^But it cannot be 
proved that it was the object of the writers of the New Testa- 
ment that it should contain every thing which the Christian 



STRONG PROOF. 127 

must believe and practise. Hence, tradition was necessary to 
supply what was wanting/^ 

^^ There is nothing wanting, my son. You have heard that, 
until the fourth century, that alone was regarded as essential 
Christian faith which our apostles' creed contains, and that was 
distinguished by the name of tradition. All this you will find 
complete and full in the writings of the evangelists and apostles. 
You will also scarcely deny that the gospels were written for the 
instruction of those who desire to become Christians, and cer- 
tainly contain every thing which is necessary to be known for 
salvation.^' 

^^On this matter,^^ said the mother, ^^we have decisive testi- 
mony in John xx. 30, &c., where it is said : ^ And many other 
signs, truly, did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are 
not written in this book ; but these are written, that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that heliev- 
ing ye might have life tlirough his nameJ 

^^ The Savior also says, (John xvii. 3:) ^And this is life eter- 
nal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent.^ And on these subjects the Scrip- 
tures surely give us full and sufficient instruction.^^ 

" You always^rive me from the field with the Scriptures, dear 
mother,'^ remarked Charles, '' and I see that you are as convers- 
ant with the Scriptures as ever. But still I think I can easily 
prove that the Bible is a very unsafe source of knowledge of the 
Christian faith. But I think we had better postpone this subject . 
until to-morrow.^^ 



128 GIULETTA AGAIN. 



CHAPTER XII. 

UNWELCOME CORRESPONDENCE. 

We must Dot lose sight of our fair Italian friend during the 
continuance of these theological discussions. She had no par- 
ticular taste for such entertain ments^ and, though occasionally 
present, yet she took no prominent part in them. It must be 
confessed; however, that they were of essential benefit to her in 
her present state of mind, for some doubts were dispelled and 
some truths more distinctly illustrated. 

Her deportment had secured the esteem of all who knew her, 
and she had even become a favorite in the circle in which she 
moved. Her appearance, manners, amiableness, and intelligence, 
were of themselves sufficient to gather crowds of admirers about 
her; but an additional interest was attached to her, in the eyes of 
the religious community, from the well-known fact of her re- 
ligious inquiry. This was a subject of conversation in all circles, 
for miles around ; and it was even thought that the old minister's 
congregation had become somewhat larger of late, on that 
very account. Everybody wanted to see this interesting young 
Italian lady. 

Giuletta frequently received letters from the seminary, which, 
at first, occasioned no change in her conduct or feelings. They 
passed off as ordinary affairs, and awakened no anxiety. Gradu- 
ally, however, it was observed by the family that her letters 
seemed to render her unhappy, but, as she said nothing in rela- 
tion to them, the family did not inquire. This anxiety rose to 
such a pitch that she absolutely trembled whenever a letter was 
put into her hands ; and the reading of it by no means soothed 



THE ESCAPED BIRD. 129 

her agitated nerves. The family suspected the character of the 
letters, but knew nothing positively. 

The young lady would spend hours in her chamber alone, and, 
when she re-entered the family circle, it was evident she had been 
weeping. She lost her usual vivacity, and all the efforts of the 
family to restore her cheerfulness were fruitless. Picnics, visits 
to friends, musical soirees, — all failed to render her happy. 

One day Charles ventured to express his anxiety, and inquired 
into the cause of her dejection. 

^^Any bad news from the seminary? — any person dead?^' 

^^No V^ she replied, in a melancholy tone, and, after a pause, 
added, mysteriously, '' The bird has escaped from the cage, and 
they are strewing the most tempting dainties all around to lure it 
back, again. ^' 

''I am sorry to hear that,'^ said Charles; ^^for the mother- 
superior always tenderly cherished that little canary; it sang 
beautifully. Do you think they will recapture it ?'^ 

Giuletta's face was lighted up with a smile. It was a rainbow 
on a sky more than half covered with clouds. 

'' You smile T^ he remarked. ^' I should suppose you would 
grieve. '^ 

^^ Yes,'^ sheHFcplied; ^^I smile at your literal interpretation of 
my language f^ and then, with a trembling tone, she added, ^^I 
am the hiixl that has escaped from the cageP^ and then, with 
stronger emphasis, " Recapture me ? never, never ! No tempt- 
ing dainties shall lure me. The escaped bird, that has tried its 
wings on the free air and soared aloft, will not of itself return to 
its prison-cage.^^ 

In uttering these words, her pale face was covered with crim- 
son, her lips quivered, her eye was lustrous with excitement, and, 
after a hasty turn or two across the room, she sank down into an 
arm-chair. 

Charles betrayed some emotion also, but it was occasioned more 
by her own excitement than by the fact mentioned. 

'' Then you have resolved never to return V^ he inquired. 



130 A FALSE LETTER. 

^^Not as a Catholic; and as a Protestant they would not re- 
ceive me V^ she replied. ■ 

'' But remember your position !'' he continued. ^^ You have 
no relation in this country; you have a character to establish. 
Catholics will denounce you, and Protestants will mistrust you.'' 

She lifted up her eyes toward heaven^ and, in slow and solemn 
tones, uttered these words : — ^' When my father and my mother 
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.'' 

'^ Griuletta,'' said Charles, ^^ though I have known you so long, 
yet every day reveals some admirable trait in your character. 
Oh that I could display such firmness !'' 

^' Do you not remember that heart-inspiring hymn of Luther,'' 
said she, ^' which I heard the first time I ever entered a Protest- 
ant church, and which has been ringing in my ears ever since ? 
It is a paraphrase of the forty-sixth Psalm." And she took the 
Bible from the center-table, and read, — 

^'^God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
time of trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be 
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of 
the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though 
the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.'" 

She had scarcely finished these words when a carriage stopped 
at the gate. The coachman leaped from the box in one bound, 
and hurried into the house, holding in his hand a letter addressed 
to Signora Griuletta Marchi; and in one corner were written in 
the Italian language what is equivalent to our English, In haste. 

As soon as she cast her eyes on it, she uttered a slight scream, 
and it was uncertain whether it expressed delight or alarm. 

^^My brother's handwriting!" she exclaimed; ^^and evidently 
written but a day or two ago. His last letter was dated at 
Naples I" 

All this she said while she hastily tore open the envelop. 
During the reading, her countenance betrayed alarm and grief, 
and yet a slight suspicion flitted over her mind. 

It purported to come from her brother, who had arrived in this 



A JESUIT TRICK. 131 

country as a tenor singer with an Italian troupe of operatic per- 
formers ; and, as tlie engagement in New York did not commence 
for ten days, lie concluded to visit his beloved sister at the semi- 
nary. He was greatly disappointed at not finding her there, but 
could not prosecute his journey farther, for he was suddenly 
taken ill, and he besought her by all a sister's afTection to come 
immediately; and, that there might be no delay, he had sent a 
special conveyance. 

The handwriting was evidently her brother's, though appar- 
ently written by a somewhat trembling hand ; but this she im- 
puted to his physical infirmity occasioned by his sickness or the 
long and boisterous voyage. 

Accompanying this letter, there was a note from Colbert, stat- 
ing that, since the brother had written his letter, very unfavor- 
able symptoms had appeared, and the opinion of the physician 
was that his case might terminate fatally. 

Here was a dilemma. ¥/hat was to be done ? The escaped 
bird might, after all, be caught. 

She did not trust her own judgment, but consulted the pastor 
and his family. She had no doubt that the letter was genuine; 
and there was her brother, a stranger and dangerously sick. A 
sister's afi*ection prevailed. She resolved to go. The family did 
not feel at liberty to interpose any obstacles, though they sus- 
pected that all was not right. It was determined that Charles 
and Amelia, who intended to visit some friends in a neighboring 
village, should accompany her that far. 

They were not long in getting ready. Giuletta promised to be 
back as soon as her brother recovered; and she promised the pas- 
tor also not to sufi'er herself to be beguiled by popish artifices. 

She was commended to God's care, and yet painful misgivings 
were felt by all. Amelia ventured also to warn her against the 
perils she would encounter. 

Behold them all entering the carriage : — the coachman, im- 
patient, and urging the necessity of the utmost speed ; Charles, 
rather sad at parting with the lady, though for a brief period ; 



132 AN ACCIDENT. 

Amelia, gay, but still clierishing a secret apprehension, which 
she tried to conceal; and Giuletta, struggling with fear and hope. 
She did not burden herself with luggage, for she expected to 
return shortly, and, waving farewell to the parents, they started 
in haste on the doubtful journey. 

^^ I fear,^^ said the pastor to his wife, '^ that all things are not 
right. I have some acquaintance with Jesuitical artifice, and I 

doubt — I doubt '^ He here concluded with a significant shake 

of the head. 

The mother was not disposed to be severe in her judgment, 
and hoped that all would end well. 

Two hours had not elapsed before a person was seen rapidly 
riding toward the parsonage. The pastor happened to be at the 
door, and was informed by the messenger that an accident had 
occurred to the carriage, by which the three persons were some- 
what injured, but the strange young lady the most severely of all. 
He had been sent to the village for a physician and to inform 
the pastor of the affair. 

It was not long before the physician and the pastor were on 
their way to the scene of the occurrence, which was but a few 
miles from the village. When they arrived, they discovered that 
-Charles and Amelia had escaped with slight bruises ; but Giuletta 
was suffering from a severe contusion, which the physician pro- 
nounced not to be dangerous. She had been conveyed to a neigh- 
boring house, where she was comfortably provided for. 

This accident terminated the journey, and Giuletta did not see 
her brother. This she deeply regretted, but she acquiesced in 
the will of God. 

Their injuries were occasioned by the overturning of the car- 
riage while the coachman was heedlessly driving along the brink 
of a considerable declivity. In a few days Giuletta was removed 
back to the parsonage, but several weeks elapsed before she per- 
fectly recovered. 

She received no other letter from her brother expressing his 
disappointment at her not coming to meet him, nor did she 



THE BIBLE. 133 

receive intelligence from any one else of his condition. If lie 
had gone, he surely would have informed her; if he had died, 
she certainly would have heard the fact from some other source. 

A few weeks after, a pupil of the seminary, on her way home, 
stopped at the village to see her former music-teacher, and from 
her they learned that no such person had been at the institution 
at all, and that the whole affair was a disingenuous trick to get 
Giuletta into their power. 

She thanked God for her deliverance, and now, for the first 
time, fully recognised the special providence of heaven in the 
accident which prevented the journey. 



CHAPTER Xin. 

THE BIBLE. 



Some days after, the conversation was resumed, and Charles 
began : — ^^It disturbed my mind very much when Colbert brought 
forward the following argument against the Protestant church: — 

'' ^The Protestant church holds exclusively to the Bible and 
rejects the authority of the infallible church. But the Bible is 
written in dead languages, and must be explained. But who is 
to explain it? Your theologians have never yet agreed about a 
great number of passages, and never will, because to produce a 
unity of opinion there must be an infallible interpreter, which we 
Catholics possess in the church and tradition. Among you every 
theologian proposes his private opinions, and you have nearly as 
many theological systems as learned divines. Nothing but confu- 
sion arises from such a state of things. What one adopts the other 
rejects. Many will not approve of any thing in the Christian 
system which cannot be proved by the light of reason. Some try 
to explain away from the Scriptures the doctrine respecting the 

12 



134 THE BIBLE. 

devil; others, the miracles and prophesies; and others, this and 
that doctrine. Your creeds do not bind your teachers, for you 
desire freedom of conscience and of investigation. The consequence 
is, that the most diverse opinions and caprices are published, so 
that the people do not know what to believe; they become con- 
fused, and finally believe nothing at all. Hence, your liberty in 
teaching what you please, your want of an infallible judge in 
matters of faith, is a great evil, which will yet lead to the total 
dissolution of your church. This evil can only be opposed by 
abolishing all freedom of instruction ; by unconditionally submit 
ting to an infallible judge of faith, whose decisions dare not be 
investigated, and even the grounds of which dare not be asked. 
This judge of faith we have in the pope and priesthood, whose 
declarations all must submit to, without the liberty of examining 
them. By this means the valuable blessing of a perfect unity of 
faith is secured to us. What one believes, all believe; one and 
the same creed is adopted by all ; and what is once established as 
an article of faith by a council of priests can never become a sub- 
ject of doubt.^ 

^^I knew nothing satisfactory that I could reply to my friend. 
What say you to it?^' 

The father took it up, and said, ^^I would first reply by merely 
denying that your vaunted infallible judge of faith, the pope, and 
the priests, ever accomplished that which you attribute to them. 
For, as respects the interpretation of the Scriptures, men were 
never of the same opinion in the church. '^ 

^^ Only read the commentaries of Clemens of Alexandria, Ter- 
tullian, Augustin; then, in later ages, those of the scholastics; 
and you will find that they are much more discordant than 
the commentaries of the present theologians can possibly be,'' 
added Bernhard. ^^The reason of this is that the principles of 
correct Scripture interpretation were unknown. But since these 
have gradually become better known in the Protestant church, 
and more firmly established, divines have become more unanimous 
on the sense of the Scriptures, and this unanimity would be 



CHURCH HISTORY. 135 

more general if there were not always some wlio are anxious to 
make the Scriptures say what they wish or think they ought to 
have said. But such foolish caprices as the church fathers had 
by thousands, and which the Romish church declares as obliga- 
tory, none of our theologians now dare to utter; for instance, 
when Clemens of Alexandria (Psedagog. III. 10) employs the 
words of the Savior, (Matt, xviii. 20,) ^ Where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there I will be in the midst 
of them,^ to prove that marriage is pleasing in the sight of God, 
and interprets the word ^ tJiree^ as meaning the husband, the wife, 
and their child ! Or when Irenaeus (Against Heretics, IV. 12) 
explains the three spies whom Rahab sheltered at Jericho to be 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! But when you say that we 
have almost as many theological systems as distinguished divines, 
I reply that the case was not different in the early church and in 
the Romish church. Tertullian had a different system from 
Clemens and Origen; Augustin had another; Gregory Nazianus 
still another. Among the scholastics, Anselm, Thomas, John 
Erigena, Duns Scotus, Occam, Biel, and others, until the Reform- 
ation, all had their peculiar systems. The popes and the priest- 
hood could as little prevent this as an uncounted number of so- 
called heresies, the majority of which proceeded from this priest- 
hood itself. Of what avail then was your infallible priesthood to 
you ? It did not prevent a difference of opinion. This it could not 
do; but the fact of the matter was essentially this: the majority 
always persecuted and condemned the minority, and the party 
that was put down by force was always wrong and heretical, and 
the party that conquered was orthodox and right. This, in a few 
words, is the history of your ecclesiastical infallibility, which ex- 
hibits your position of the utility of an infallible judge of faith 
in all its nakedness.^' 

Amelia now ventured an opinion. ^^I should think,'^ said she, 
^^that it requires two parties to complete this matter: — one which 
maintains its infallibility, the other which believes it and blindly 
subjects itself. Of what avail is infallibility to the first, if 



186 INFALLIBILITY. 

the second does not believe it and takes the liberty of judging 
for itself? Hence^ the unity of faith is but little prornqted by 
your infallible pope and his bishops, if they have no means of 
convincing the laity of their infallibility. What means have the 
popes used for that purpose ?^^ 

Charles was confused, and did not reply. 

^^ According to history/^ continued the father, ^Hhe means 
were outlawry, sentences of condemnation, the Inquisition, and 
persecutions of every kind, which the popes, the clergy, and the 
princes who aided them, brought down upon the refractory with 
tremendous violence.^' 

'' In that they showed their infallibility pretty much as our 
neighbor the wild blacksmith, who is accustomed to convince his 
wife of the correctness of his opinions with an iron rod !'' said 
the daughter. 

^' The refractory were silenced, and with that the priests were 
satisfied,^^ observed her father. '' They did not certainly convince 
them ; for, as is well known, conviction cannot be forced. The 
Romish priesthood has itself experienced that; for to this very 
hour the controversy is prosecuted, whether the pope is always 
infallible, or only in certain cases ? whether he can be judged by 
a general church council ? whether his decrees alone are valid, or 
only after ratification by the church? whether he alone is the 
bishop of the church, and all other bishops only his vicars, or 
whether he is only first among the bishops and equal with them ? 
The popes, indeed, have decided all these to their own advantage, 
and have declared the contrary opinion as heretical; but the other 
bishops have never yet believed them. They have rather ex- 
pressed the opposite opinion, but that the popes again have not 
believed. Hence, the infallible priests have never yet been able 
to maintain or even to produce unity of faith among themselves, 
to say nothing of the laity.^' 

^^I see plainly,^^ said Charles, ^Hhat the Komish priesthood 
could not create a perfect unity of faith. But it is certainly very 



SCRIPTURE PROOF. 137 

natural that controversies about faith should be decided by the 
clergy/' 

^^ Certainly/' replied his father; ^^but only by argument and 
good reasons, and not that their decisions should be arbitrary and 
subjected to no further examination. For no man can be obli- 
gated to a blind faith. It is immoral to regard any thing as a 
duty, of the propriety of which you are not convinced. Jesus 
and the apostles do not demand a blind faith.'' 

'^ But Paul writes to Timothy, who was bishop of Crete, (Tit. i. 
9-13,) that he should 'stop the mouths^ of ^ gainsay ers.' Yea, 
in verse 13 he says, ' Rebuhe them sharply, that they may be 
sound in the faith.' In this he certainly authorizes the bishops 
to employ severity in holding gainsay ers to the faith," said 
Charles. 

'^ You draw a very unsound — I may say, a foolish — conclusion, 
my son. The apostle is only speaking to Titus about rebuking 
the perverse; and because the Cretans were, as the apostle says, 
(v. 12,) ^ evil beasts and slow bellies,' he admonishes him (v. 13) 
^ to rebuke them sharply,' — that is, for their immoral and licen- 
tious practices. But thus to rebuke does not mean ^ to employ 
severity in keeping them to the faith.' Titus was only commis- 
sioned to teach and to rebuke ; but it is not said, ^ You must with 
all severity insist upon others that they believe what you say; 
for what you and other bishops say is infallible, and the laity are 
bound unconditionally to believe it.' This is what your priests 
maintain, and by which they set themselves up against the apos- 
tles' will, as lords of your faith V^ 

'' But, surely, the apostles did not allow the laity to examine 
and judge what they delivered to them ; and, consequently, the 
successors of the apostles, the priests, have the right to demand 
unconditional obedience to the faith from the laity/' remarked 
the son. 

'' But the great apostle Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth^ 
(1 Cor. X. 15,) and says, — ^I speak as to wise men. Judge ye 
what I say.^ Again, (1 Cor i. 24 :) ^ Not for that we have 

12* 



188 AGREEMENT AND DIFFERENCE. 

dominion over your faiths but are helpers of your joy.' But 
tliat the priesthood is not infallible, and has not dominion over 
the faith of the laity through the Holy Ghost, as is maintained, 
is abundantly shown by the rule which the apostle lays down to 
the Christians of Thessalonica, (1 Thes. v. 20, 21 :) ' Despise not 
propliesijings; prove all things; hold fast to that ivhich is good.^ 
But what, on the other hand, did the Catholic bishops at Trent 
say ? — ^ We command that no one dare to believe or teach other- 
wise than is here established/ How modestly the great apostle 
speaks, and how arrogantly the insignificant bishop at Trent 
speaks directly the contrary! In vain, then, does the apostle 
Peter (1 Pet. v. 2, 8) warn the Christian bishops against the 
proud conceit of being lords and judges in the church, when he 
says, ^ Feed the flock of God, — not as hevng lords over God's 
heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. ^^^ 

'' But experience has proved,^^ said Charles, '' that, where lib- 
erty of faith is allowed, very difi'erent opinions are entertained 
and published, and thus the people are perplexed. '' 

^^ Difi'erent views on religious subjects have always been enter- 
tained in the Eomish church as well as in ours, both when men 
were forced in their faith and when they were free to think as 
they pleased,^^ the father granted. ^^But, unless these difi'erent 
opinions are persecuted, experience proves that they have no ef- 
fect on the essential substance of religion — that is, on the prac- 
tice of religion. I have heard many Protestant preachers during 
my travels, but did not find one whose doctrine gave me offence; 
all edified me. You need only read the great multitude of printed 
evangelical sermons to convince you that their authors, although 
of different sentiments, yet all labor for the same end, — namely, to 
promote Christian life among the people. There are some, in- 
deed, who make the pulpit the theatre of learned brawling; but 
they are few, and they are finally silenced, because the people 
withdraw themselves ; for they desire to have edification, and not 
controversy.^' 

^^But even if it were not so,'' observed the mother, ^^yet every 



PROPER TEST. 139 

Cliristian has the Bible for himself, and, truly, the will of God, 
with respect to us and what we must do to be saved, is so simply 
and plainly written in it, that on that point even a layman cannot 
doubt. Kemember what I told you before on this subject. I 
think that men entertaining different opinions can still lead Chris- 
tian lives. I only held those religious opinions as injurious which 
make men indifferent about virtue, secure in their sins, and in- 
spire a false, delusive consolation. Such opinions are, indeed^ 
erroneous and superstitious.^' 

'' You are perfectly right, dear madam,'' said Bernhard. ^' The 
effect which a doctrine has upon the conduct of a man is a prin- 
cipal mark of its truth or falsehood. This Jesus himself says, 
when he warns against false teachers, wolves in sheep's clothings 
and lays down this rule : — 'Bi/ their fruits ye shall hnow them,* 
And why shall we not follow the church of the early centuries, 
when, as Irenagus assures us, the simple doctrines of the apostles' 
creed were maintained, and liberty was given to the theologians 
to think of other controverted points as they pleased. Chris- 
tianity was free, and grew and flourished. It will not now de- 
cline, even though this difference of opinions exists." 

^^Even if I should grant this," said Charles, ^^ still it is very 
evident that this liberty of investigation in the Protestant church 
has also attacked the doctrines of the apostles' creed. Men be- 
lieve that the name Protestant, with which many are so much 
delighted, allows them the privilege of protesting against every 
thing which they cannot discover by their own unassisted reason, 
and they take pride in gradually rejecting all the peculiarities of 
Christianity and maintaining nothing but natural religion." 

^^I do not deny," said Bernhard, ^* that the name Protestant 
has been the occasion of some mischief. Some men have abused 
it. But our church expressly recognises an authority to whick 
every Christian must subject himself, — namely, the word of God 
in the Holy Scriptures. How, then, can Protestantism consist 
in the rejection of all authority excepting reason ? But still it 
is true that there has arisen among some Protestants a spirit of 



140 ROMISH CRUELTY. 

illumination, whicli would explain every thing that is peculiar in 
Christianity; but what a delusion V^ 

'^1 am glad that you acknowledge this/' remarked Charles, 
^^ and I hope that you will also grant that the Catholic church has 
kept herself free from that, and that a unity of faith has also 
existed in her, of which the Evangelical church is totally desti- 
tute/' 

^' There you are wrong, dear friend. That liberalism which 
ridiculed genuine Christianity, and scarcely left natural religion 
untouched, came from France — CaiJiolic France. Voltaire, who 
signed his letters ' Christomoque,' (mocker of Christ,) and boasted 
that ' he alone was able to overthrow the edifice which twelve 
men (the apostles) had erected,' Boubanger, Frenet, De la Met- 
trie, and others, who called themselves philosophers, were the 
men who transplanted this mockery of religion from France to 
Germany. But what awakened this infidelity in France was the 
strenuous perseverance of the Romish church in all errors and 
abuses. In a country where the massacre of St. Bartholomew 
was witnessed, — in which, after the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, the twentieth part of three millions of Protestants were 
in a short time horribly murdered and more than half a million 
driven away, — no wonder that a combination of all the more en- 
lightened men was formed against such abominable cruelties of 
the Komish church. That they should attempt to overthrow 
Christianity with the Bomish church was a lamentable but a 
natural mistake. Such extravagance is opposed to the spirit of 
the Protestant church; and you must grant that it was Protestant 
writers who conquered that bold infidelity, and finally exhibited 
it in all its nakedness." 

" But you have a party among the Protestants — the so-called 
Rationalists — who elevate reason above the Scriptures, and who 
attempt to reduce Christianity to mere natural religion," said 
Charles. 

'^ That we lament," replied Bernhard, with an air of triumph; 
'' but has not the Romish church also such a party ? Were not 



DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. 141 

the Frencli liberalists — the Encyclopedists — also Catholics ? Were 
not they Catholics who in the revolution abolished Christianity, 
but yet were magnanimous enough to decree that France should 
at least have a God to believe in ?'^ 

'' But still it is not good that there should be such a diversity 
of religious sentiment/^ remarked Charles. 

^^ But how will you prevent it V^ asked the minister. ^^ God 
has so created man that he can only believe on good evidence, 
and this evidence has not the same effect on every man. This is 
the case in the Catholic just as in the Protestant church, and the 
difference is only this : — that the Romish church, by punishment 
and the Inquisition, forces to silence or to hypocrisy those who 
have other sentiments in matters of faith; but the Protestant 
church leaves the decision of such things to the force of truth 
and argument. I should think that the latter was most conform- 
able to the will of God, who, if he had desired perfect unanimity 
of religious opinions, would have found other means to that effect 
than the horrors of the Inquisition and the condemnation of here- 
tics, in which fallible men punish those presumed to be errone- 
ous, by taking away their life, or liberty, or property, or repu- 
tation, without being able to convince them to the contrary. 
You cannot, then, bring it as a well-grounded objection against 
any church, that parties exist within her pale.^^ 

'' You do not intend to maintain that diversity of religious 
opinion is useful and desirable ?^^ asked Charles. ^^That cer- 
tainly can never have been the conviction of the church, which 
always must insist upon unity of faith. ^^ 

^^I do honestly believe,^^ said Bernhard, ^^that diversity of 
views on unessential points is salutary, and prevents narrowness 
of opinion and intellectual languor, which are the death of reli- 
gious activity. Just as God did not wish men to become virtuous 
without conflict with sin, so he did not desire that we should be- 
come wise without conflict with error. This conflict of opinions, 
it is true, awakens in many a blind party-spirit ; but it is still to 
most men a beneficial excitement to learn and understand the 



142 DIFFERENCES. 

truth. The controversy "between the Christians converted from 
Judaism and those from heathenism in the apostolical church 
was of much benefit ; it produced the apostolical resolution which 
made Christianity forever independent of Judaism, (Acts xv.) 
Hence the old church fathers did not lament this diversity of 
opinion, as you do. ^By comparison with error/ says Origen, 
(Homil. in numb. ix. 1,) ' truth only shines more brilliantly,' 
Were the doctrines of the church not attacked, and not encom- 
passed by the opinions of heretics, our faith would not be so 
pure, and not appear so well investigated and proved. But 
hence, the attacks of gainsayers are directed against the general 
doctrine, that our faith may not slumber from inactivity, but be 
filed to smoothness and beauty by frequent collision. For this 
reason says the apostle, (1 Cor. xi. 19,) ^ There must be also 
heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made 
manifest among you.' In like manner the venerable Bishop of 
Carthage, Cyprian, expresses himself, (De Unit. Eccles. p. 197.) 
If, then, the church of the first three centuries, although perse- 
cuted with fire and sword, endured different religious opinions 
among her members without injury, we at present, when the 
church is at peace, will have less harm to fear from diversity of 
sentiment.'' 

^^I should think," observed Amelia, ^Hhat the beautiful say- 
ing, Hhat a virtue which requires watching is not worth the 
watching,' is also applicable to truth. A tmth which requires 
force and punishment to prevent it from extinction is not worth 
the labor bestowed on it ; it is not a truth." 

"But the liberty of the use of the Scriptures, which you allow 
to the unlearned, has certainly led to much confusion and fanati- 
cism," said Charles. 

"It is not the fault of the Scriptures," replied Bernhard. 
" Men became fanatics without the use of the Bible. Witness 
the Mystics in your own church. But even if diversity of senti- 
ment arises from liberty of opinion and Scripture interpretation, 
or should a few Christians occasionally be led into extravagance; 



DIFFERENCES. 143 

it would be an unavoidable but an unimportant evil, that could 
be easily endured, and wbicli, as abundant experience shows, is 
most safely met by mild persuasion. But to employ for tnis 
purpose tbe desperate means wbich the Eomisli cburcli uses, and 
to subject all Cbristians unconditionally to the caprice of tbe 
priesthood, and to pursue with, excommunication and punishment 
as heretics all those who doubt their infallibility, is to me such 
intolerable tyranny over the conscience, that every other evil 
appears infinitely smaller. Why should all be deprived of a 
privilege allowed by nature and by no means to be forced from 
us, because a few among thousands abuse it ? Is the whole state 
converted into a madhouse because a few citizens are insane ? 
The rule by which you abolish all liberty of investigation, and 
prescribe a blind faith in a few hundred priests, in order to pre- 
vent the circulation of one or another erroneous opinion, appears 
to me to be acting just about as rationally as if a great state 
would prohibit navigation to its subjects because now and then 
a ship is wrecked, and would grant the privilege only to some 
inhabitants of islands. ^^ 

^^I see plainly, that the expedient of obligating all the laity to 
an unconditional faith in what the priests say, is a foolish one/' 
granted CharlesT 

^^ Only pursue the matter to the end!'' continued Bernhard. 
^^The few hundred bishops who assembled at the councils since 
the fourth century are to have the right of prescribing to the 
millions of Christians of their own time and of all subsequent 
ages an unalterable creed ! Who will insure to us their wisdom 
and impartiality? How few of them are well enough known to 
us to trust them ! Did they not live in times of great excite- 
ment, in which the judgment is liable to be perplexed, and when 
men are not qualified to take a dispassionate view of subjects? 
Do we not see, from many of their writings, that they interpreted 
the Bible very differently — that the majority did not at all under- 
stand the Hebrew language, and many of them not even the 



144 COMPULSORY UNITY. 

Greek ? Had they been inspired by the Holy Ghost, as you 
maintain, they would have been unanimous in the establishment 
of the doctrines ; they would have spoken, as it were, with one 
tongue, by one inspiration, as the prophets of old. But they 
disputed, entertained different opinions, and were forced, like 
other men, to come to conclusion by argument, and thus were 
dependent on their own powers. And sometimes their meetings 
were stormy enough. The Council of Ephesus, in 449, supported 
its opinions by soldiers armed with swords, and monks with clubs. 
The Council of Trent, so decisive for the interests of the Romish 
church, was frequently in the greatest discord; and the bishops 
wrangled so fiercely that there was danger of a total dissolution, 
so that at last the Archbishop of Palermo, Tagliava, threw him- 
self upon his knees in the midst of the assembly, and, with tears 
and outstretched hands, begged the bishops to conduct them- 
selves decently and come to an agreement. The number of 
priests also at these councils who had the right of voting was 
always very small; and it is indeed altogether unfair that a few 
hundred priests, among whom there have always been many 
stupid and few learned heads, should prescribe a system of faith 
to the 125,000,000 Catholics who now may be living in the 
world, and among whom there are many learned, wise, and good 
men. When the Council of Trent was opened, there were only 
twenty-five priests present entitled to vote. Their number gradu- 
ally increased, it is true ; but even at the end of the council there 
were but two hundred and twenty-five voters, of whom the 
Italian clergy alone composed more than the half. The most 
of the resolutions of this council, however, were passed by less 
than one hundred votes. And are these few persons to repre- 
sent the whole Christian world, and be able to prescribe a faith 
forever valid to all Christians to the end of time ? and is every 
one who dares to reject any article to suffer as a heretic in repu- 
tation, liberty, or life ? Here, truly, if anywhere, the warning 
of the apostle is applicable, (1 Cor. vii. 23 :) ^ Ye are bought 
with a price; be not ye the servants of. men/ And I would 



UNITY. 145 

ask, if God Lad found it good to make the priesthood infallible 
by bis Spirit; why did he often permit a great part of the priest- 
hood to fall into error and heresy, which again had to be con- 
demned at other expensive councils^ and not without violence, by 
another part of the priesthood ?^^ 

^^I know not what to reply to that/^ said Charles. ^^But 
what expedient would you propose for maintaining the necessary 
unity of faith ?'^ 

^^None at all/' replied Bernhard. ^^ Unity of faith in your 
sense is not necessary, because it is not possible. Hence, Jesus 
also (Matt. xiii. 24-30) was willing that the wheat and the 
tares should be left together until fhe harvest. It is not a part 
of the plan of God to deprive the human mind of all self-depend- 
ence by means of the bare letter of creeds, and to produce such 
a unity as a clock-maker wishes when he sets several clocks to 
the same hour. In every age divine truth has been differently 
viewed by different men, and yet it has not been destroyed. 
Then, if a complete identity of all religious opinions is not pos- 
sible, and can be attained by no expedient, — if the Bomish priests 
are not qualified for the office of infallible judges of faith, and 
could never produce or maintain the unity of faith, — then it is 
folly to subject the laity to the declarations of the priesthood, 
and thereby fetter the conscience and enslave the mind, which 
not only fails of its design completely, but is also highly 
injurious. ''' 

^^But still it appears to me,'' said Charles, ^^as though there 
were a certain unity and perpetuity of faith produced in the 
Komish church by the judicial authority of the priesthood.'' 

'' You say rightly — ^a certain/ " remarked the father; ^^ for I 
have before shown you the true character of this boasted unity 
of faith. It is indeed only a certain unity, for it was produced, 
inot by the force of sound argument, but by the force of external 
power, — that is, by the fiercest persecutions of those who would 
not believe without good grounds; for which reason it is not a 

13 



146 OSTENSIBLE UNITY. 

true internal unity, but specious, external, and lience exceed- 
ingly unworthy of confidence/^ 

^^ Indeed, your professed unity and perpetuity of faith is partly 
a mere outward shoiv, partly a veri/ great evil/^ said Bernhard. 

^^I should like to hear the proof of that? If you produce 
it, I will recall every thing I said this evening against your 
church/' 

^^I can, and will produce it,^' continued Bernhard. ^^Tell me, 
do you mean this by unity of faith, — that the creeds and confes- 
sions of the church remain the same and agree with each other ? 
or this, — that all Catholic Christians entertain precisely the same 
opinions founded on the creeds, and no others? Certainly t*he 
latter; for we have the former unity of confessions, and to a 
much greater extent than the Bomish church, in which popes 
and councils have so often publicly contradicted and condemned 
each other.'' 

^^I also understand it in the latter sense," replied Charles; 
^' for on that account a creed is established, that all may have the 
same view of Christian doctrine; and hence in our church the 
creeds are patterns of faith for each individual, whereas your 
church regards yours not as patterns, but only as evidences of 
that which the church acknowledges as the meaning of the Holy 
Scriptures." 

^^ Perfectly right," said Bernhard; ^^but do you think it pos- 
sible that all men, with the best intentions, will understand a for- 
mula of doctrine in the same way? or will they not rather inter- 
pret it very differently ?" 

Charles replied, reluctantly, ^' Certainly experience teaches that 
men are not likely to take the same view of a subject." 

^^Say, rather, it is impossible," said Bernhard. ^^And hence 
that unity of faith so loudly boasted of in your church is nothing 
more than that which we have, — namely, a unity of language in 
the public confessions,' ' 

^^But cannot these confessions be expressed with so much 
precision," asked Charles, ^Hhat it is not possible to think dif- 



FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS. 147 

ferentlj about them^ but tbat all wbo understood the language 
must entertain the same idea ? I should think that the Athana- 
sian creed^ for example^ speaks so precisely that it must neces- 
sarily create in all the same ideas of the doctrine of the Trinity/' 

"It is certain/^ said Bernhardt "that this is the most precise 
and least equivocal creed we have; and yet theologians have dis- 
puted whether the Trinity is an attribute of God, or something 
else; all the illustrations which have been attempted produced a 
different result, and either destroyed the unity of the Divine Being 
or the distinction of the persons. Your popes themselves saw 
that a unity of faith was not secured by the decrees of the Council 
of Trent, and hence they publicly proclaimed that no one should 
presume to interpret the decrees and language of the Council of 
Trent, but that this is the exclusive privilege of the popes. They 
really established in Rome a particular commission of priests for 
this object. Thus in truth they make to the world this remarkable 
acknowledgment : — that the meaning of the public confessions is 
variously apprehended, and that a general council is not compe- 
tent to produce unity of faith among Christians. ^^ 

Charles remarked, "I must confess that this committee of 
explanation yio which the decrees of the Council of Trent are 
referred, is in open contradiction to what is maintained, — namely, 
that the decrees of councils produced unity of faith.'' 

"To pursue the matter to its legitimate results,^' said Bernhard, 
"we might say that the explanations of this committee needed 
explanation; for that purpose another must be appointed, and, 
for the arbitrament of this one, again another, and so on. Thus 
the whole priesthood would be nothing but a series of committees, 
which explained each other's explanations, and on which no final 
decision could be made, because the last as well as the first would 
be understood by the faithful in different ways.'' 

"But what, then, does the Evangelical church do? Where 
does she look for the final decision ?'' asked Charles. 

" The first and final decision we seek in the Holy Scriptures," 
answered Bernhard. 



148 RESULTS. 

"And on what authority do you believe that the instructions 
of the Scriptures are infallible'/'^ 

" Certainly not on the authority of one or several men, but on 
the authority of argument y which every one has liberty to ad- 
vance, because by argument alone a genuine and lasting convic- 
tion is made, and conviction upon good grounds only is worthy 
the dignity of religion and rational man. Paul also tells us, 
^ Prove all things; holdfast to that which is good/ '^ 

"But this occasions among you a great variety of opinions/' 

"That is true,'' said Bernhard; "and we do not try to prevent 
it ; because, as I have shown, Grod has so created men that every 
one is a living responsible being in himself, and must arrive at the 
truth by the exercise of his own powers. This variety of views 
among individuals does no harm to the grand object, — namely, 
Christian life, — and affords us the opportunity, at least, of show- 
ing that we desire to be sincere. But the assumed infalli- 
bility of your priesthood in councils renders it impossible for the 
Bomish church to correct an error once committed or an abuse 
once established. Your Council of Trent about twelve hundred 
years ago adopted purgatory, masses for souls, withholding the cup, 
transubstantiation, celibacy of the clergy, the damnation of all 
who are not papists, indulgences, satisfaction by penance, and 
other things, as eternal articles of faith; and it is in vain that now 
so many sensible Catholics desire an alteration. In a church 
which claims to be infallible, error is eternal, and proscription 
and punishment support this error as irreversible truth. By this 
means the Romish church comes into inextricable conflict with the 
progress of the sciences and social cultivation. She cannot, like 
the Protestant church, keep pace with these things, but she must 
sink in the stream of time, or she must try powerfully to check 
the development of the human mind, or to bring back again the 
times of the Middle Ages, in which she sprung up and then only 
could flourish. And to accomplish that is the avowed object of 
the Bomish priesthood at the present day, but which can be as 
little effected as if an attempt were made to bring a full-grown 



DIFFERENCES UNAVOIDABLE. 149 

man back again to childliood. Our public confessions^ on the 
otber liandj are not intended as patterns of faitli or as prescrip- 
tions, but are only evidences of the views wbicli men entertained 
of the doctrines of the Scriptures at the Reformation. We then 
can correct an error if it is discovered, and avail ourselves of all 
the improvements in the science of interpretation; but, in es- 
sential points, this has not been neccessary. Hence, the gospel 
of Jesus will endure and be extended, but that of Rome and 
Trent will decay and perish.^' 

^^I am myself almost persuaded that we boast too much of per- 
petuity and unity of faith in our church,'^ granted Charles; ^Hhat 
difference of religious views is unavoidable ; and that the defence 
and explanation of the word of God by argument is still the best.'' 

^^If it were not presumptuous in me to take part in this learned 
controversy, I would also have a word to say to enliven the 
discussion a little,'' said the daughter. 

'^ Truth may lie concealed in a jest; let us hear," remarked 
the father. 

'^ The Scriptures say to the woman, ^ Thy desire shall be (subject) 
to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' This is very plain, 
but yet in all ages it has been differently understood. The in- 
habitant of the East was the lord of his wife in the strictest 
sense of the word, and she his servant. Among the Greeks the 
wife was also subjected to servitude, although in a milder form. 
Bernhard explained this matter to me very beautifully. You 
know how that expression is understood now. Many ministers, 
when they come to the words ^ He shall rule over thee,' in the 
form of matrimony, add, Hn all reasonable cases.' But what is 
gained thereby? Every wife and every husband have their 
peculiar views of these ' reasonable cases,' and they would hardly 
agree in sentiment if a whole book were written on that subject. 
Yea, if an explanation were given by a whole assembly of infalli- 
ble popes, it would be no better; for every wife will never be any 
thing else than she can be, either mistress or servant. It depends 
altogether upon the relation she sustains to the man whom she 

13* 



150 DIFFERENCES UNAVOIDABLE. 

has received as her husband^ with respect to talents^ accomplish- 
ments, respectability, character, influence, and the like. It ap- 
pears to me to have been thus already in ancient times; for I 
think that Sarah and her daughter-in-law Eebecca interpreted the 
old saying, ^ He shall rule over thee,^ in their own way, although 
in their times the strictest interpretation was generally prevalent. 
But what injury is to result from a different interpretation of 
that passage among wives I really cannot see. Until now, at 
least, the world and domestic life have always moved along toler- 
ably well.'^ 

^^ Yes, you ladies ! — ^you interpret every thing as you please and 
in your own favor,^' observed Charles. ^^But it would become 
you very well, if you all said as the virtuous Mary did, ' Behold 
the handmaiden of the Lord !^ ^' 

^^ Yes; but Mary, when she said this, had not a selfish, growling 
bear of a husband before her, but — an angel. We do not read 
that Mary ever said any thing like that to Joseph, her husband. 
If indeed the men were all angels ^^ 

Bernhard interrupted her, — ^^And the women all angels, then 
they would be on an equality! But jesting apart — you see, 
dear Charles, that the views of men about the formulas of faith 
will always be various, and that there could not be popes and 
councils enough to decide every thing, and to drive every thing 
into the heads of men in the same way. But still every church 
may continue to have her written creeds. Nothing is, however, 
gained but a unity of language in the public formulas, and not 
a similarity of views in the understandings of men. Variety of 
religious opinion is natural, and cannot be avoided. Hence it is 
wrong to condemn each other as heretics on this account, and 
to employ authority and violence to force men to entertain the 
same views on this subject.^' 

Charles could not reply, and found it convenient, after a pause, 
to change the subject to another, that occupied much of his 
attention, and then withdrew, promising to renew the conversa- 
tion hereafter. 



A VISIT. 151 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ANOTHER ATTEMPT 

The accident whicli happened to Giuletta awakened a deep 
sympathy in the hearts of many persons, and numerous visitors 
came to express their condolence, as well as to congratulate her 
on her fortunate escape from more serious danger. She received 
letters from some of her former pupils, conveying their sympathy, 
and informing her that in a few days she might expect a visit 
from some inmates of the establishment, at whose coming she 
would be surprised. 

Giuletta, at first, was not certain that she should regard this 
intended call as one of condolence or as designed for another pur- 
pose, which she secretly suspected. She resolved to prepare her- 
self for the interview, properly presuming that it would require 
all her faith and moral courage to withstand the encounter. 

A few days-^fter, the familiar carriage, horses, and coachman 
of the school drove up to the door : and who should alight but 
two of the teachers. Sisters Angelica and Theodosia ? They were 
rather young and handsome ladies, well educated and refined, of 
engaging manners and dignified bearing. They met Giuletta 
with the most tender embrace, and displayed the most affection- 
ate interest in her condition. Not the least evidence was given 
that they were aware of any change in her mind; and^ in the 
presence of the family, they lavished on her the most extravagant 
praises. They spoke of her accomplishments, talents, and vir- 
tues, and expressed a hope that she would soon be able to return 
to the seminary. When an incidental allusion to her brother 
was made, they adroitly turned it off; and introduced some other 
subject. 



152 A SEVERE TRIAL. 

The family thought proper to retire and leave Griuletta and her 
visitors by themselves. They had scarcely left the room^ when 
their tone and manner were altered, although they did not be- 
come harshly severe at once. They said they were aware of her 
religious course recently, and had come for the express purpose 
of remonstrating with her and of inducing her to return with 
them to the school. 

Then the trial began. Giuletta acknowledged that she had 
always been treated kindly by them, and had been contented. 
• f^ Why, then, not return at once ?'^ they inquired. 

" I have changed my religious opinio^s, and can no longer 
harmonize with you,'^ she modestly replied. 

They expressed profound regret, but betrayed no violence. 
Their deportment was ladylike, and their language conciliatory. 

Their amiable demeanor had a subduing effect on Giuletta, but 
she secretly prayed for firmness and faith. 

By degrees a discussion arose, which was conducted with be- 
coming temper on both sides, occasionally only producing a flash 
of displeasure on the part of the nuns, which was, however, sup- 
pressed with consummate tact. 

^^ You were satisfied with your place and with us, you have re- 
marked, Giuletta ; and, then, why should you remain here ?'' 
they asked. 

^^ The caged bird is satisfied with its imprisonment, because it 
never knew the sweets of liberty ; but let it escape and fly over 
the meadows and drink of the clear streams and associate with 
its fellows, — and will it voluntarily return ?'' she asked. 

" Yes, if it find no food V' they significantly replied. 

^^True,^' said she; ^^but food is abundant in these flowery 
meadows, — on these trees bending down with the weight of lus- 
cious fruit, — in those fields waving with golden grain. ^ The 
Lord opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing.' 
I was satisfied, it is true ; but now Christ has made me free, and 
in that liberty I shall stand, and not suffer myself to be entangled 
again with the yoke of bondage. '^ 



A STRONG APPEAL. 153 

" Plow you have changed your language, Giuletta V^ they ex- 
claimed. 

'' Say also, my heart and ways, and hopes and aims V^ was her 
quick reply. 

'^ But, dear child, I just now remember, Father Colbert en- 
joined it on me to tell you that your salary shall be raised imme- 
diately on your return,^' said Sister Angelica. 

^^ It was small enough, but I was content. No money can buy 
me now; no bribe can move me,^^ was her dignified answer. 

^^ But you know that you could not clothe yourself as gayly as 
your position required ; but now you will have the means,^^ added 
Sister Theodosia. 

This appeal to her vanity only excited the displeasure of the 
young lady, and, with considerable warmth, she replied, ^' I would 
rather be dressed in rags and be free, than glitter in gold and be 
a slave. '^ 

The ladies soon discovered that it was necessary to change 
their course, and one of them said, — 

^' Oh, Giulet, you should only see the handsome youngs man 
we now have in the place of Werner. He is so handsome ! You 
know that we, as nuns, dare not speak or even think of men ; but 
we are sure h^^would suit you. He plays exquisitely, he sings 
divinely, and the girls are dead in love with him. They all say, 
however, that you would admire him because of the similarity of 
tastes. Had you not better come ?^^ said they. 

'' I admire talent, wherever found ; but my heart is not sus- 
ceptible to the emotions you speak of. Perhaps you are smitten 
yourselves, and I might be in your way,^^ she replied sarcas- 
tically. 

This remark, under other circumstances, would have brought 
forth the severest rebuke; but it was convenient now to pass 
it by with an affectation of pious horror at the ill-timed re- 
flection. 

'^ But do you not know, Giulet, that your going away in com- 
pany with an unmarried man created considerable observation, 



154 A PLAIN REPLY. 

and that you can only repair the mischief done by returning 
with us ?'^ remarked Angelica. 

This remote imputation started the blood of the young Italian 
lady into a quicker course. She rose from her chair, her eye 
flashing fire, and her lip quivering. She fixed her withering gaze 
on the sister, and exclaimed, '^ You are the last person who should 
utter language like this ! — you who advocate a system which con- 
fines women within barred gates and high walls, to which priests 
alone have access ! — you who subject yourselves like slaves to 
the will of men, who surrender your judgment, conscience, and 
all, to their keeping ! — you who are sworn to defend nunneries, 
monasteries, and other similar establishments, which have been 
the fruitful source of crimes that dare not be mentioned, and 
which have been abolished even in Catholic countries because of 
their acknowledged immorality! — you who '^ 

She was here suddenly interrupted by Sister Theodosia : — 

'^ Cease, G iulet ; your language distresses us. I pray you, be 
calm. I can easily account for this violence : you have not yet 
fully recovered from the fever consequent on the accident, and, 
I presume, about this time of day it comes on.'^ 

^^Not in the least,^'* replied the young lady. ^^True, I am 
still weak ; but my mind is clear, and I speak the words of sober- 
ness and truth. I am not mad. Sister Theodosia V^ 

By a dexterous manoeuvre, the visitors drew off the inexpe- 
rienced girl to another subject; and, when her agitation ceased, 
one of them made another appeal. 

" But, dear child, what will be your mother's feelings when 
she hears of this? She cherished you so tenderly; she trained 
you so faithfully in th^ only true religion ; she commended you 
so devoutly to the protection of the Blessed Virgin, when you 
left her ; — and now, will it not break her heart to learn that you 
have gone astray ?^^ 

The allusion to her mother brought tears to her eyes. She 
was subdued. She resumed her seat, and uttered not a word. 
She covered her face with her handkerchief, and even sobbed. 



A FAILURE. 155 

The sisters felt tliat they had touched the proper key^ and now 
began to entertain some hope. 

A dead silence of a few minutes ensued. Giuletta then drew 
from her pocket a New Testament^ opened it, and, without saying 
another word, turned to the eighth chapter of Matthew, and read 
from the eighteenth to the twenty-second verse, inclusive, the 
last of which is, ^^But Jesus said unto them, Follow me; and 
let the dead bury their dead.^^ 

" What book is that, Giulet ?^' asked Sister Theodosia. 

^^ That book which, if not forbidden by your priests, at least 
is not encouraged; — that book which contains not a word about 
popes, purgatory, processions, salvation by good works, nunneries, 
Inquisition, indulgences, mass, and the hundred errors in which 
I have been trained ; — that book which teaches that we are saved 
by faith in Christ without the works of the law; — that book 
which it would be well for you to read; — that book which ^^ 

Here Sister Angelica suddenly turned pale, and Sister Theo- 
dosia, believing that she was about to faint, hastily rose, and ex- 
claimed, ^^ A glass of water, if you please, Giulet V^ 

This interrupted her remarks, and she procured the water to 
restore the fainting nun. More time than would otherwise have 
been necessary was spent in this process, and, when she had per- 
fectly recovered, the conversation on the Bible was not resumed. 

All their appeals to the pride, vanity, avarice, and filial affec- 
tion of Griulet had been fruitless; and one more attempt was to be 
made. 

They changed their tone, and now began to threaten, and hold 
up the perils of apostasy and the sin of leaving the only church 
in which salvation can be found. 

But she was prepared to defend herself, and their attacks were 
most successfully repelled. They soon found themselves incompe- 
tent to conduct the argument, and were confounded at every step. 

They at length rose in a high state of excitement, and, forget- 
ting their usual politeness, left the house without even the custom- 
ary farewell, and, entering their carriage, drove off at a rapid rate. 



156 THE PRIESTHOOD. 



CHAPTER. XV. 

THE PRIESTHOOD AND CONSECRATION. 

One principal argument in favor of the Eomish cliurcli; whidi 
had deeply rooted itself in the unfurnished mind of Charles, was 
the doctrine concerning the priestliood, which he introduced for 
discussion the next evening. He had been convinced that the 
Catholic priests were the only persons divinely authorized to give 
religious instruction and administer the sacraments, and that 
they were fully empowered to forgive sins. The mother thought 
that this was a subject which deserved no investigation, inas- 
much as little depended on it ; but the father maintained the 
contrary, inasmuch as the doctrine concerning the priesthood 
was a principal ground of the Catholic church, presumptuous in 
its character and encroaching exceedingly on the rights of others; 
and Bernhard observed that the proselyters of ancient and 
modern times had attempted to impress very deeply on the 
minds of the people the objection that the Evangelical clergy 
had no right to the office they sustained. To prevent unneces- 
sary dispute, they at the commencement granted to Charles that 
Jesus and the apostles designed that there should be teachers 
and officers in the church, inasmuch as the apostles appointed 
presbyters and deacons in the congregations, or permitted them 
to be appointed by the churches. The father and Bernhard 
argued, that on this was founded the legitimacy of the clerical 
office established in the Protestant church, and then asked 
Charles why he controverted this legitimacy ? 

^^The Eomish church teaches,^^ he replied, ^^that Jesus and 
the apostles not only appointed teachers and officers in the 
churches, as you think, but that they established a distinct 
priestly order, to which belongs exclusively, and without the 



THE PRIESTHOOD. 157 

participation of tlie laity, the government of the churcli, the 
right to teach, to administer the sacraments, to forgive sins, and 
to decide controversies. Hence, without the priest the layman 
can do nothing. The priest must baptize him, and thus he first 
becomes a Christian. The priest must confirm him, must ab- 
solve him at confession, offer the sacrifice of mass for him, help 
him out of purgatory, and by all these means unlock for him the 
gates of paradise, which the priest alone can do. Finally, it is 
the priestly order which, on account of its infallibility, has the 
exclusive right of determining what the layman must believe as 
true and reject as false, and what is real sanctification and the 
proper means to promote it.^^ 

^^Then the Catholic priests are not guardians of the souls of 
the laity, but lords of their souls,^' remarked the father, — " their 
unlimited monarchs, because in matters of religion and salvation 
they have not only executive authority over the laity, but legisla- 
tive. The laity are — pardon the comparison — the negroes, and 
the priests the planters. We have no such priests in the Evan- 
gelical church. ^^ 

"You cannot have them,^^ replied Charles; "for the rights of 
the priesthood are derived from the apostles, and are only com- 
municated by priestly consecration. Hence, they can be pos- 
sessed only by that priesthood which descends from the apostles 
in an uninterrupted chain of consecrations, and thus perpetuates 
and communicates these priestly gifts. The Catholic clergy 
can show historically the series of their bishops up to the apos- 
tles, consequently, derive their priesthood as genuine from its 
founder, Christ ] but the Protestant clergy cannot do this ; they 
can only derive their ordination and authority from the founders 
of the Reformation, Luther and Zwingli, who had it not in their 
power to found a priesthood.^' 

"Have you forgotten, my son, that Luther and Zwingli were 
consecrated priests of the Eomish church, and also could trace 
their consecration to the apostles, and therefore could impart it 
to the clergy of the Evangelical church ? Have you forgotten 



158 APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 

that^ at the time of tlie Eeformation^ very many Eomisli clergy- 
men in Saxony, in tlie imperial towns, in all Germany and 
Switzerland, and also in Denmark and Sweden, became Evan- 
gelical clergymen, and hence brought over with them the conse- 
cration of the Catholic church into ours ?'^ 

'' Indeed, dear father, I did not think of that. But I should 
think that Luther and the other Catholic clergymen had lost 
the consecration, inasmuch as they declared themselves inde- 
pendent of the Catholic church, and of the high-priest at 
Eome/^ 

The father, smiling, observed, ^^That is heresy, my son. You 
know certainly that your church and the Council of Trent have 
established the position, that consecration imparts a sacerdotal 
character that cannot he lost, — which is not destroyed by deposi- 
tion and expulsion from the church, and which of course could 
not be lost by all the Eomish clergymen who became Evan- 
gelical. Once a priest, always a priest.^^ 

^^ You are right, father. We must grant that Luther, Zwingli, 
and others, always remained legally-consecrated priests. But I 
believe they could not consecrate others, because they separated 
from the pope and Catholic priesthood, and fell into heresy.''^ 

^^ Their heresy consisted in this,^^ continued the father; ^Hhat 
they ascribed to the Holy Scriptures a higher authority than to 
the decree of popes and the priesthood; that they elevated the 
authority of Jesus, the founder of the priesthood, above the 
priesthood itself, the master above the disciples. For this 
reason, it is impossible to rob them of the legitimacy of their 
consecration before God and Christ. But if they whom you 
call heretics had lost the authority of perpetuating sacerdotal 
consecration, then you would render doubtful the rights of the 
Romish clergy themselves. For from the first to the tenth cen- 
tury it was the clergy among whom very frequently, and for a 
long time, the so-called heresy reigned. In the middle of the 
fourth century the half of the Christian clergy were Arians.^^ 

Bernhard here said, ^^I just remember that the bishops Die- 



CONSECRATION. 159 

nysius of Mailand, and Eusebius of Yercelli^ were Arians, and 
that the Eomisli deputies to tlie Council of Aries (in 354) them- 
selves subscribed the condemnation of Atbanasius, whose doctrine 
subsequently prevailed over that of Arius/^ 

^^If then these avowed heretical bishops continued to conse- 
crate without afterward re-ordaining those consecrated by them/' 
said the father, ^^and if consecration was further extended by 
these, then a great proportion of the present Romish priests re- 
ceived their consecration from Arians and other heretics, and 
consequently are not lawfully consecrated/' 

^^I feel that my ground is untenable/' granted Charles. ^^But 
just now the principal point occurs to me. The consecration of 
priests can only be performed by a bishop ; consequently, Luther, 
Zwingli, and other Catholic clergymen, who were not bishops, 
could not transplant it into the Evangelical church." 

^^You will only get into greater difficulties by that, my son. 
How do you know that a bishop only can consecrate ?" 

^^It seems to have been the custom from the be^innino^." 

^^But custom does not create a necessity. Besides, it was not 
so at the beginning, but a custom introduced at a later day. 
The apostle Matthias (Acts i. 15-26) was not elected in the 
place of Judas the traitor by Peter and the apostles, but by the 
congregation at Jerusalem, which also (verse 24) prayed over 
him. Paul and Barnabas were consecrated apostles to the hea- 
then, not by an apostle, neither by a bishop, but, according to 
Acts xiii. 1-3, by three pious private persons at Antioch. If 
then only a bishop could legally consecrate, Paul, Matthias, 
and Barnabas were not lawfully consecrated; consequently the 
elders ordained (Acts xiv. 23) by Paul and Barnabas, and all 
those consecrated by these again, which certainly constitute a 
great portion of the Bomish clergy, have not received lawful 
consecration. Besides, there is no reason why a bishop only 
should consecrate, since by consecration, agreeably to 3^our 
opinion, every one receives the same supernatural gifts, con- 
sequently can also communicate them, if they are at all com- 



160 LAYING ON OF HANDS. 

municable. Then you must grant that our clergy are validly 
consecrated^ or acknowledge that the Romish priests are desti- 
tute of it also. But I attach no importance to it, because the 
whole doctrine of the power of consecration and the transmission 
of a supernatural gift; which renders the priestly order infallible 
and makes them the spiritual tutors of the laity, is altogether 
groundless. For by what means do you believe these super- 
natural gifts are transmitted ?^' 

^^By the laying on of hands at ordination/^ answered the son; 
^^by which the Holy Ghost is communicated to the priests, and 
they receive the authority of teaching infallibly, eifectually ad- 
ministering the sacraments, and offeriog to God the sacrifice of 
the mass.^^ 

^^And what authorizes you to ascribe such operation to the 
laying on of hands ?^^ 

^^The Scriptures themselves impute it.^' 

^^In that you are mistaken, my son,^Mnterposed his mother. 
^^The laying on of hands was not fi,rst introduced in the time of 
Christ, but it was a very ancient Jewish custom, and was a, sign of 
the conferring of something invisible. That which was conferred 
may have as well been something good as bad — something spirit- 
ual or temporal. Hands were laid on the animal that was sacri- 
ficed, as a sign that the guilt of sin was laid upon it, and that it 
must expiate this guilt, (Lev. i. 4; iii. 2; iv. 15; xvi. 21;) on blas- 
phemers, to show that the guilt was theirs, and that they de- 
served the punishment, (Lev. xxiv. 14;) on Levites, as a sign 
that the care of the temple and the holy things were committed 
to them, (Num. viii. 10 ;) upon Joshua, to show that the dignity 
of a leader of the nation was conferred on him, (Num. xxvii. 
18-23; Deut. xxxiv. 9.) In the New Testament you find that 
Jesus laid his hands on children when he blessed them, (Matt. 
xix. 13-15,) that the same was done to the sick to heal them, 
(Mark v. 23 ; vi. 5 ; vii. 32 ; viii. 23 ; xvi. 18 ; Acts ix. 12 ; 
xxviii. 8,) and that hands were laid on newly-converted Chris- 
tians to bless them and impart the gifts of the Spirit, (Acts 



LAYING ON OF HANDS. 161 

xix. 6.) Yv^hen, then, it was practised at the admission or installa- 
tion of elders and deacons, (Acts vi. 6; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6,) 
it was nothing peculiar, but something common, and they received 
thereby no extraordinary gifts, but the gifts of the Spirit, which 
all other Cliristians also received by the laying on of hands; and 
these gifts were so little connected with this custom, that even 
the yet unbaptized heathen received them after the mere hearing 
of the sermon of the apostle Peter, without the laying on of 
hands.'' Acts x. 44-46. 

^^I never before knew that the laying on of hands was so com- 
mon, and that it equally exerts an influence on the laity,'' said 
Charles. ^^From this it certainly follows that this custom is 
not essential in the consecration of priests, and cannot be the 
means of communicating gifts peculiar to the priestly order." 

'' You will be yet more deeply convinced of this, my son, if 
you remember that the apostle Matthias (according to Acts i. 
24-26) was consecrated, without the laying on of hands, by mere 
prayer; and Jesus himself, when he commissioned his apostles, 
observed another custom. He said to them, (John xx. 21-23,) 
^As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he 
had said this^Ae hreathed on tlierrij and saith unto them, Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are re- 
tained.' 

^^By laying on of hands, then, Jesus did not consecrate the 
apostles. Consequently, it cannot be essential or necessary to 
consecration, or the apostles were not properly consecrated, and, 
of course, the whole Eomish clergy. Priestly consecration can 
then communicate nothing but external authority to perform 
ecclesiastical services. But the internal consecration which 
qualifies for this office cannot be inherited like a piece of land 
or a lordly title, and it cannot be received by the laying on of 
the hands of men ; for it consists in the religious spirit and gifts 
necessary for the performance of the official duties/^ 

14* 



162 CONTROVERSIES. 

^^ According to that/^ said Charles, ^Hlie priesthood would 
have no supernatural gift, which it appropriates to itself as a pe- 
culiar possession, in which the laity have no part ?^^ 

'' What foolish questions you can ask, Charles ! If you want 
another proof, only look at the bishops, the elders, and the dea- 
cons, from the first to the sixteenth century. They were seldom 
unanimous in religious opinions ; the priestly order was the most 
fruitful source of opinions which another portion of this order 
declared as heresies. The Phocians, Sabellians, Nestorians, 
Arians, Novatians, Adoptians, Eutychians, and many others 
whom you designate as heretics, had priests as their founders 
and priests as their defenders. The Franciscans, Dominicans, and 
Jesuits, — all consecrated priests, — carried on among themselves 
the most scandalous and prolix theological controversies, which 
in part are not yet discontinued. And these priests, of whom 
one part was always contending against the other, who condemned 
each other as heretics, are to be infallible, full of the Holy 
Ghost and of wisdom, and to have the right of determining in 
an infallible manner what all Christians are to believe or not to 
believe ! And these priests, who themselves first introduced the 
opinion of their presumed privileges and made it an article of 
faith^ we are to believe upon their bare assertion, when they 
themselves so grossly contradict the opinion by their actions V^ 

"I see very well that I cannot dispute the legitimacy of the 
consecration of the Evangelical clergy on the grounds stated/' 
Charles was compelled to remark. 

^^That does not yet settle the matter, dear Charles,'' said Bern- 
hard. ^^We have granted your conception of the priesthood, 
and only shown that the Evangelical clergymen had all the right 
of appropriating to themselves what the Romish church ascribes 
to the priesthood. But we could have cut the matter short, 
and said that Jesus and the apostles did not design to establish 
a priesthood in the Christian church.^' 

''You can scarcely be serious ?" 

'^ Perfectly serious. Teachers of the gospel and overseers of 



PRIESTLY SUPREMACY. 163 

the congregations they appointed, but no priests. For what is a 
priest ?^^ 

^' The Romish catechism says : ^ The office of a priest is to 
offer sacrifice to God and to administer the sacraments.' The 
correctness of this definition is derived from the Old Testament/' 

"From the Old, truly, but not from the New. We have al- 
ready shown you that the New Testament declares all sacrifices 
as abolished by J)he death of Christ. There is then no sacrifice to 
be repeated, and consequently, in the New Testament, no priest 
who has a sacrifice to bring. Besides, the apostles never regarded 
themselves as priests.' 

"That I grant; but the administration of the sacraments is 
surely exclusively committed to them V 

"No, no ! Only read the 11th and 12th chapters of the First 
Epistle to the Corinthians,'' said Bernhard. "There you will see 
that the gifts of the Spirit were common to all Christians ; — that 
every one, the women alone excepted, could rise and teach in the 
congregation and explain the Scriptures. Teaching, then, was 
confined to no order, but it was free for all who felt themselves 
moved to it. And there is not the least proof that baptizing and 
administering the Lord's supper were exclusively committed to 
the apostles, bishops, or elders. Paul says (1 Cor. i. 14-16) that 
in the large congregation at Corinth, which he established, he 
had baptized only two persons and one family, and adds, what is 
very decisive, ^ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach 
the gospel.' " 

" I cannot surely dispute the assertions of the apostle Paul. 
But the apostles expressly received the power to forgive and re- 
tain sins, and through them the bishops received it," said Charles. 

"Remember what we said on that subject before, which you 
could not refute," observed the father. 

"The matter was thus represented to me, dear father: the 
principal design of Christ is to be the mediator between God 
and men. After his ascension to Grod, intercession for his people 
is alone ascribed to him. Whence then shall mediation between 



164 PRIESTLY POWER. 

Grod and men come after this time ? How are we placed in a 
situation to fulfil the conditions under which the mediation is to 
be of benefit to us ? If it was not the will of Christ to continue' 
his mediation personally to the end of the world^ and the Scrip- 
tures speak only of one part of his personal mediatorial office, 
which he continues after his ascension to heaven, it is easy to 
believe that he committed to others the other part of his media- 
torial office, — that which is visible to men on earth. And this 
mediatorial office in all its parts continued by Christ on earth, 
although not personally, is the Catholic priesthood. It is Christ 
acting and living on earth, until the end, in substitutes furnished 
with his authority and the necessary grace/' 

^^ All that is pure nonsense,^' said the father; ^^it has no sup- 
port from the Scriptures, — yea, it is contradictory to the Scrip- 
tures. Show me but one passage in which the Savior says that 
the apostles should be his substitutes after his death and cany on 
his mediatorial office in his stead. On his departure from the 
earth, the Lord said to his apostles, (Acts. i. 8:) ^Ye shall be 
witnesses unto me,' but not. Ye shall be mediators in my stead, 
my substitutes in the mediatorial office. And, according to 
Matthew xxviii. 18, 20, the Savior, just before his ascension, said, 
^ All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth, I am 
with you always^ even unto the end of the loorldJ How foolish, 
then, for you to speak as though Christ could or would not any 
longer exercise power on earth, and for this reason appointed 
priests in his stead ! The apostle Paul contradicts that notion 
most decisively, when (in Heb. vii.) he ascribes to Christ an 
eternal priesthood, — that is, forever in exercise, continually in 
operation, — and hence draws the conclusion that there is no more 
necessity for a priesthood to perform its functions through men as 
his substitutes. In ch. ix. 10, &c., he says that the human priest- 
hood was only necessary until the appearance of Christ, ' the time 
of the Keformation' that he offered himself once for all, 'having 
ohtained eternal redemption for us/ (ver. 12,) and that now there 
is no more occasion for continual sacrifice, (ver. 25, 28.) So, my 



CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 165 

son^ we need no furtlier sacrifice and no priest; and Clirist is not, 
as ttey wished to persuade you, separated from his church. Your 
idea of ' the priesthood^ s substitution in the place of Christ on 
earth' is an idle whim, directly in opposition to the Scriptures. '' 

'' Then there would be no priesthood in the Christian church?'' 
asked Charles. 

'' It was not the design of Christ that there should be a priest- 
hood in the sense of the Romish church/' replied Bernhard. 
'' The bishops and elders of the apostolical church did not consti- 
tute a distinct and privileged order, but they were partly teachers, 
partly overseers of the congregations, and stewards of the public 
affairs of the church. Hence, every one could be a bishop, if he 
was qualified for transacting this business. The deacons of the 
apostolic church were nothing more than stewards of the public 
alms, and took care of the poor, (Acts. vi. 1, &c.,) and not even 
clergymen in the sense of our church. Hence, there were also 
deaconesses, (1 Tim. iv. 9, &c.;) which affords certain proof that 
there was nothing sacerdotal in their office. The bishops, elders, 
and deacons, first began gradually to be regarded as a distinct 
exclusive order in the third and fourth centuries. All that was 
peculiar to the Mosaic priesthood was attributed to them, and 
hence the idea of the priesthood first originated. According to 
the representation of the apostle, all Christians are priests ; and 
Peter says, (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 :) ' Ye also, as lively stones, are built up 
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. 
Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation.' 

'' But by ' spiritual sacrifices' the mass is not understood, but, 
according to Bom. xiii. 1, 2, Heb. xii. 14, 16, the laying off of 
sin and the putting on of Christian virtue. But when Peter 
says all Christians are priests, he is rather to be believed than 
when the pretended successor of Peter asserts the contrary. 
Hence, the Evangelical ministry is fully authorized to perform its 
functions h}/ the appointment of the church, and very properly 
leaves the forgiveness of sins and the opening of paradise to 
Him whom it becomes, — the Most High in heaven, — and does 



166 PRIESTLY HYPOCRISY. 

not presume to repeat the sacrifice of Christ to Grod^ since Christ 
offered himself once for all/' 

'' I can say nothing against that/' said Charles; '^ but yet there 
is something consoling in the belief that the clergy provide for 
the forgiveness of cur sinS; for our salvation^ and the genuineness" 
of our faith V 

^^ YeS; just as the eulogists of slavery say/' observed the father; 
'' it is certainly very consoling to slaves that they need not be so- 
licitous about shelter, food, and clothiDg, inasmuch as the master 
must provide all these. But they do not thereby reflect that 
the slave has nothing of his own ; that he must yield uncon- 
ditional obedience, must bear with all the whims of his master, 
and endure all the stripes of his overseer without a murmur. 
And these stripes the Komish priests have laid right lustily over 
the shoulders of the la'ity. But all that might be endured, if 
the clergy were able to fulfil what they promise and on which 
account they demand such unlimited power over the souls of the 
laity. The master gives his slaves real shelter, food, and clothing, 
because he is their master; but the priests only give directions 
toward paradise, which is not their own, but God's ; they promise 
forgiveness of sins, which does not depend on them, but on the 
mercy of God : — that is, their blessings are all prospective. They 
themselves possess them not, and only expect them from the 
grace of the great Master above. And how can you believe 
that these men are under the iDfluence of the Holy Ghost, and 
filled with wisdom and holiness, when you read the complaints 
of all ages against the pride, cruelty, licentiousness, and crimes, 
of popes and priests ? I do not deny that there have been very 
many pious, venerable, and excellent bishops, priests, and popes; 
but it is equally undeniable that there have been many others 
who were wicked, licentious, ignorant, lewd, and despicable. 
There is then among them the same mixture of wisdom and 
folly, virtue and vice, which is observed among the laity; con- 
sequently, the priests can possess no spiritual gifts above the 
laity, but are equally subject to error and to sin." 



THE MASS. 1G7 



CHAPTEK XVI. 

THE ROMISH* AND EVANGELICAL WORSHIP — THE MASS. 

The next morning after this conversation^ Charles again read 
over the paper which he had prepared for the purpose of seeing 
what yet remained that he could advance in justification of his 
conversion to the Komish church. He found only two things : — 
first^ that the Catholic ivors/iip was preferable to the Evangelical; 
and, secondly, that the Catholic church receives especial dignity 
from the saints and martyrs which belong to her. Difficulties 
occurred to him on both these points ; but still he determined to 
bring them forward, to hear the opinions of his friends, that there 
might be a perfect understanding between them on all the points 
involved in the controversy. Hence, on the next evening he in- 
troduced the subject of the Catholic worship, to which he ascribed 
two principal advantages over the Evangelical : — first, that it is 
much richer in festivals, and hence awakens and promotes more 
ardent devotion^; and, secondly, that it addresses the senses more 
powerfully, and by its splendor and ceremonies presents a more 
tangible and effective view of invisible things, and brings them 
nearer to our feelings. But he soon had occasion to wish that 
he had been silent about the multitude of festivals in the Catho- 
lic church, for his friends framed a strono; aro^ument as^ainst the 
Komish church from that very circumstance. The festivals have 
been multiplied to such an extent, they said, that they seriously 
interfered with the business of the citizens and retarded public 
industry, so that the Catholic princes themselves were obliged to 
remedy this abuse, and to prevent the introduction of new church 
festivals, except by their permission. His friends also objected 
on the ground that many festivals were founded on things which 
must be regarded as indubitable historical or religious errors ; for 



108 OUTWARD SPLENDOR. 

instance, the festival of the immaculate conception of the Virgin 
Mary, the commemoration of the chair of St. Peter, the Corpus 
Christi, of the chains of St. Peter, the ascension of Mary, of All 
Saints, (those which are in purgatory,) the numerous festivals of 
saints and martyrs, many of which are founded on very uncertain 
legends. They opposed him on the ground that in the Old 
Testament the law was in full force, — ^ Six days shalt thou labor 
and do all thy work,^ and that, although now the celebration of ^ 
the seventh day was abrogated, and the first day of the week was 
selected as the Lord's day, yet that the prescription of six work- 
ing-days was still in full force, and that, hence, it was opposing 
the design of Grod, when men multiply holidays at such a rate 
that, finally, they have become almost as numerous as the work- 
ing-days.'^ 

They consumed more time in discussing the second point, 
which was, the superior advantages of the Catholic worship on 
the ground of the deep impression it made on the senses of men. 
Charles laid much stress on the salutary influence which the 
church solemnities in Rome exerted on so many strangers. They 
objected to this, that Rome afforded no criterion of the effect of 
the Catholic worship generally. ^^Inacity,'' said the father, 
^^ where the high-priest is at the same time a temporal king, and 
his person, when he publicly appears as a priest, is at the same 
time surrounded with the temporal majesty of the throne, where 
the subordinate priests are at the same time officers of the king- 
dom, and the church solemnities are performed in all the gor- 
geous magnificence which the unlimited will and wealth of a 
monarch can bestow upon them, — in such a city the worship will 
naturally be distinguished by a brilliance which can be found no- 
where else. But the city of Rome, with her sumptuous St. 
Peter's church, is not the Catholic world ; and the king-priest — 
the pope — and the sacerdotal court surrounding him are not the 
Catholic church. We must consider the ceremonies in them- 
selves, and not as they are performed at Rome.'' 

^^But altogether irrespective of Rome," replied Charles, "yet 



TRUE WORSHIP. 169 

the customs and service of the Catholic church are of such a na- 
ture that they make a much deeper impression than the service of 
the Evangelical church. The latter employ only the understand- 
ing, but do not awaken religious sensibility; hence, they are only 
suited to the inhabitants of the cold North, who have no sensi- 
bility or taste, and not to the sprightly French, Italians, Spanish, 
and the inhabitants of the South generally. They require some- 
thing entertaining, something addressed to the senses, which will 
excite their imagination and feeling.^' 

"I have often heard similar speeches/^ said the father, 
" especially from enemies of the Evangelical church in France, 
and was always not a little astonished ; for one single example 
completely prostrates this baseless idea, and that is derived from 
the Mohammedan system. No religion in the world has such 
meagre ceremonies as the Mohammedan. Their mosques are 
destitute of all ornament, of all pictures, of every thing that could 
gratify the senses or intoxicate the mind, and are only decorated 
with passages from the Koran, their holy writings. Their wor- 
ship consists in fastings, ablutions, and prayers. They are per- 
fectly satisfied with their frugal and dry service, and are com- 
plete fanatics in their religion. And yet they live in the warm — 
yea, hot — latitudes of the earth, in comparison with which Italy, 
Spain, and France must be called cold countries. You find them 
throughout all Asia Minor, in burning Arabia, in India, in Persia, 
in Egypt, in the interior of Africa, and in the torrid deserts. 
That stupid prattle, then, that the climate of France, Italy, and 
Spain demands that we convert the worship of God into a theatri- 
cal exhibition, and that pilgrimages, processions, masses, and 
pictures of saints and Madonnas, are essential, has always been 
exceedingly abhorrent to me, and is only depreciating those noble 
nations. The people, it is true, are everywhere the same, and 
they take delight in that which pleases the eye and charms the 
ear. But their imperfection is not our law : we must elevate 
them to more refined spiritual enjoyments. That this can be the 
case in Southern countries you see in the Reformed Christians 

15 



170 TRUE WORSHIP. 

of France and Switzerland, whose churcli service is mucli more 
simple than ours; but yet they are zealously evangelical, and in 
France many of them have been unshrinking martyrs of their 
faith and steadfastly withstood all temptations to apostasy. And 
was it necessary to establish another mode of worship for the 
Hollanders and the English in the colonies which are situated 
beneath the burning equator, in West India, in South Africa, 
East India, and the Indian peninsula, because there a hot sun 
burns over their heads and the cold fogs of their native land do 
not surround them ? But, even if it were true, as you say, that 
the South cannot dispense with its theatrical worship, and that 
the North only begets men insensible to feeling, because employed 
with the understanding alone, then it would be an indication of 
the Creator himself that Romanism was not calculated for the 
North, and, consequently, you have no right to condemn and 
calumniate us. It is nothing but foolish, groundless prattle ! If 
the inhabitant of the South is already a creature of lively sensi-^ 
bility, then his inflammable temperament should not, in addition, 
be flattered by religion ; he should not be entertained by religious 
shows, and the extravagancies of his warm blood should not be 
encouraged by endless ablutions and indulgences. By these 
means he is only made worse, more volatile, and careless ; he is 
by the climate already disposed to idleness, and by your endless 
fasts you only nourish that disposition. You should rather give 
him a church service which would cool the blood, moderate his 
fire, and lead him to reflection, and not to fanaticism.'^ 

'' Even if I grant that, dearest father, yet there is still one 
advantage which we have, of which you are altogether destitute. 
The Catholic worship represents the invisible things and myste- 
ries of religion in splendid paintings and ceremonies, which pro-' 
mote devotion in a great degree. '^ 

^^Bernhard, I leave you to reply to that.'' 

^^ Let us see, Charles, what you have more than we. We have 
public preaching, and much more frequently than you; the Lord's 
supper also ; and we do not administer it half, as you do, but 



THE MASS. 171 

whole, as Jesus instituted it. "We have singing, prayer, and 
baptism. We also celebrate the principal festivals of the church. 
We also have, as you, churches, organs, clocks, choirs, the ordination 
of the clergy, and their solemn installation into office. What you 
have besides are processions and pilgrimages, of which it must 
be acknowledged that they cherish devotion in a very small de- 
gree, — yea, not at all ; you have pictures of saints, holy water, 
incense, the baptism of bells, — mere trifles, which are unworthy 
of notice. The principal thing is the massj and that alone. ^' 

'' You are right,^^ said Charles ; ^^ it is the mass which consti- 
tutes the grand distinction. That is the principal part of the 
Catholic worship, which exceeds every thing in importance, even 
the sermon.^' 

'' If we attend to the writers of your church,^' continued Bern- 
hard, '^ the mass is the most exalted service that can possibly 
exist, and awakens devotion more ardently than any thing else 
imaginable. But let us hear vAat your mass is. ' The mass,' 
says the Council of Trent, in the twenty-second session, ' is an un- 
bloody sacrifice, in which the priest offers to Grod the same Christ 
who hung upon the cross, as an atonement for sins and transgres- 
sions, even if they be enormous; a sacrifice which the priest 
offers not only for the sins of the living, and in the place of pun- 
ishments and penances, and for other necessities^ but also for the de- 
parted but yet not wholly-purified Christians in purgatory.^ The 
council not only authorizes public masses, at which the congre- 
gation is present, but also authorizes — yea^ commands — private 
masses, which the priest may hold in a retired chapel, and en- 
joins that the mass shall be celebrated in the Latin language. 
Is it not so V^ 

'^ Even so,^^ said Charles. 

^^ The principal idea, then, which lies at the bottom of the 
whole affair, is this : — that the priest, in performing the service of 
the mass, offers the body of Christ as a sacrifice to God anew. 
The fact that the sacrifice of the mass is the principal feature in 
the Catholic worship should afford you a complete development 



172 PRIESTLY POWER. 

of the whole character of the Eomish church, of her service, and 
of her fundamental difference from the Evangelical church. The 
character of the Romish church is 'priestly. From the fourth 
century onward, the Christian bishops were regarded as counter- 
parts of the Old Testament priesthood \ they were believed to 
correspond in all respects ) they were no longer considered what 
the apostles had been, and what it was the wish of the apostles 
they should be, — namely, teachers, examples, and overseers of 
the church, — but as mediators between Grod and men, who sacri- 
fice to God for men, and who thus procure for them grace and 
pardon from Grod. So soon as this view became prevalent, so 
soon was there attributed to all the services of the bishops, and 
other clergy, a priestly — that is, a propitiatory — influence with 
God, which was productive of grace. Their services in baptism, 
confirmation, the solemnization of matrimony, and the like, pro- 
duced, as ^ Christians believed, that effect on the supernatural 
world. And this is the principal distinction between the Evan- 
gelical and Catholic worship : — that we do not ascribe to our wor- 
ship any supernatural effect on God, but only a moral effect on 
men, and we arrange and conduct it accordingly. Our worship 
is intended to enlighten the understanding, to incline the will to 
the practice of Christian virtue, and to purify and sanctify the 
heart. Hence, the preaching of the divine word, in connection 
with singing and prayer, is with us the principal matter. The 
Catholic worship, as a sacerdotal one, is intended to operate on 
the invisible world, — on God, — and to move him to absolve you 
from punishment and to exercise grace toward you. Hence, 
preaching is with you a subordinate service; at every time of 
worship there is required a sacrifice, and this is performed in the 
priest's celebrating the Lord's supper for himself, and thus a 
continual sacrifice is offered to God.^^ 

*^But is there not something consoling in this continual sacri- 
fice, that, amid our daily infirmities, the grace which we so much 
need is daily operating ?'' asked Charles. 

^^ This sacrifice of the mass, which is always to be had for 



REAL SACRIFICE. 175 

money, may certainly be very consoling to him who desires con- 
stantly to sin/^ replied Bernhard. '' He will not be apt to let 
his sins become very old. They will always be young and bloom- 
ing ! For, as the church father Arnobrius (Adv. Gentes, xii. p. 
128) correctly says, ^ The multitude of sins will only be in- 
creased if the hope of absolution is held out, and men will will- 
ingly submit to penances when the grace of the pardoning 
power can be purchased. But this consolation of the mass is 
not only dangerous to morality, but it is entirely without founda- 
tion. What idea must men entertain of God and of his grace, 
if they can believe that, so often as the priest sacrifices, God is 
compelled to be gracious to the sinner and to change his mind 
respecting him ? For such a compulsion is inseparable from the 
idea of the sacrifice and its efiect on God, because if God were 
voluntarily gracious there would be no necessity of the sacrifice 
of the mass by the priest. But, besides, this whole view of the 
mass has not the least foundation in the Scriptures. I challenge 
you to show me a single passage in the New Testament in which 
the Lord's supper, even in a general view, is represented as a sacri- 
fice offered to God. For I will not even ask you for the proof 
that a priest is to offer it. You will not attempt to prove that. 
In the whole New Testament, although reconciliation through 
the death of Christ is often spoken of, you will not find one pas- 
sage in which it is even remotely intimated that the sacrifice 
offered by Christ of himself was or is to be repeated among 
Christians. On the other hand, the whole epistle to the Hebrews 
expressly contradicts that sentiment; for it is the object of that 
epistle to show that by the sacrifice of Christ, which he oiice 
offered, all sacrifices among Christians are rendered unnecassary. 
To quote only a few passages from that epistle will be sufficient/^ 

He here read Heb. vii. 27; ix. 12, 25-28; x. 10, 14, 18, and 
then proceeded : — 

^^Can any thing be plainer than these passages? Is not the 
repetition of the sacrifice of Christ, in every form, here declared 
untenable and perfectly superfluous ? And where, in the First 

15* 



174 ERRORS OF THE MASS. 

Epistle to the Corintliians, wliicli treats so extensively of tlie 
Lord^s supper^ does tlie apostle Paul express the opinion, even 
remotely, that the sacrament is a second sacrifice, that the priest 
shall partake of it for himself only, and that thereby the priest 
sacrifices Christ anew?^^ 

^^I acknowledge that a second sacrifice is nowhere spoken of 
in the New Testament,^^ said Charles. 

'' Say, rather, that the second sacrifice is distinctly represented 
as unnecessary. From all this, then, it is evident that the funda- 
mental doctrine of your church respecting the mass is an error, 
unfounded in the Scriptures, and consequently every thing that 
your church teaches of the efficacy of the mass, particularly the 
private and soul masses, is fundamentally erroneous. But this is 
not the only thing erroneous that lies at the foundation of your 
mass. The second error equally great, upon which the whole 
rests, is this : — that bread and wine are changed by the consecra- 
tion of the priest into the body and blood of the God-man, with 
which, at the same time, (as the Council of Trent, session 13th, 
says,) the soul and divinity of Christ are j^resent. But this 
change is not supported by a single word of the Scriptures. And 
the whole matter is in itself a palpable contradiction.^ 

"I know what you are after,^^ said Charles. ^^ You think we 
teach that the bread in the Lord's supper is bread and not bread 
at the same time; that would certainly be contradictory. But 
the church teaches that the substance of the bread is changed 
into the body of Christ, but that the foi^ni and the external ap- 
pearance of the bread and wine remain unchanged.^ 

^^I did not believe that you — pardon me — ^would betake 
yourself to such a groundless subterfuge. Tell me, what is the 
difference between the substantial and the accidental in the bread ? 
If the bread still smells like bread, tastes, nourishes, and is and 
has every thing like real bread, what is then that substance that 
can fall away and be displaced by the body of Christ ?^' 

Charles continued silent, unable to reply. 

Bernhard continued: — ^^How can you suffer yourself to be de- 



TFvANSUBSTANTIATION. 175 

ceived by sucli miserable subtleties? This wbole doctrine of 
transubstantiation, as history tells us^ first originated in the ninth 
century only, from Pascliasius Radhertus; it was at that time 
violently assailed by the most distinguished divines, such as 
MauruSj Jolm Erigena^ and RatramnuSy and was only first rati- 
fied in 1063, at a council held at Rouen. The belief that the 
host is the body of God, and is ofi'ered to God as a renewed sacri- 
fice, is founded on that doctrine. I will not even mention the 
contradiction that arises from the fact that the priest himself 
consumes the host, and hence appears to ofi'er the sacrifice not to 
God, but to himself, which militates against all the customs of 
the Old Testament, in which that which was to be offered to 
God was either sprinkled toward the altar or burned, but never 
consumed by the priest, although the priest received a portion of 
the offering. With this there are connected many other errors : 
for instance, that of purgatory in masses for souls ; of other masses, 
you believe that they can serve all the various wants of life, 
and hence you can have a mass read for good weather, for a safe 
journey, for the thriving of cattle, and for other things, to which 
surely the exalted sacrifice of Christ never had any reference. 
If then the fundamental ideas of the mass are errors, it is very 
clear that it cannot excite a salutary devotion unless the believer 
becomes an unbeliever, and entertains very different opinions of 
the mass, and by his own devotion attributes to it a different effi- 
cacy. But all ceremonies which exhibit an error, and which 
men conscious of that error must interpret to themselves in a 
sense totally different from that designed, in order to excite de- 
votion, are false, useless, and superstitious, and dare not find a 
place in the worship of Christians. For a ceremony is the pic- 
ture of a thought held up to the senses, and must hence be con- 
formed and suited to that thought, just as a garment to the body. 
It only receives dignity from the thought of the truth on which 
it is founded, and thus impresses the mind; independent of that, 
it is empty and injurious.^' 

^^I feel the trath of what you say,'' acknowledged Charles. ^^I 



176 ROMISH PREACHING. 

myself have often at the mass thought of something else for 
my edification. I regarded it as a representation of the omni- 
presence of God. 

^' The sensation of the greatness and glory of Grod will be more 
powerful in your soul if you contemplate the starry heavens 
with the worlds revolving in eternal silence, rather than a vaulted 
church with the priest at the altar. And did you not miss our 
admirable hymns in the Romish church?^' asked Bernhard. 

'^Indeed, I cannot deny that the Evangelical church-singing, 
in the matter and form of the hymns, exceeds every thing that 
we have in that part of our service, and that it is peculiarly cal- 
culated to excite devotion. I will acknowledge to you that that 
old hymn, ^Commit thy ways to Grod,^ &c., and that beautiful one 
of Gellert, ^My days on earth are ending,' still afforded me the 
more heartfelt edification even in Rome.'' 

^^ Neither dare you forget the influence of our preaching," said 
Bernhard. ^^ We have indeed an infinite advantage over you, that 
instead of the mass we have made preaching the principal part 
of the service. Tell me, what kind of sermons did you hear in 
the Catholic church, which edified and made you a better man?" 

"Here I must grant you every thing, my dear friends," said 
Charles ; " for it is too true that the sermons which I heard in 
the Catholic church were not only not edifying to my ear, accus- 
tomed as it was to better sermons, but were often in the highest 
degree offensive." 



GIULETTA AND PURGATORY. IT*! 



CHAPTER XVII. 

GIULETTA AND PURGATORY. 

Charles and Giuletta had not conversed on the absorbing 
theme for several days. One morning she entered the parlor where 
he was reading, and, with an animated countenance, remarked, 
^' Mr. Charles, I have got rid of a great fear, which has hitherto 
often tormented me, and I feel as if I was born anew, free as a 
bird in the air.^' 

^^It is no doubt something again that you have found in your 
New Testament that puts you into such high spirits,^ ^ said 
Charles, smiling. 

^^And is there any thing wrong in that? Is not this book 
given to us that we should search it ? Oh, I bless the hour it 
came into my hands ! It has made day out of the night which 
surrounded me, and, instead of the chains which fettered me to 
the earth andT^he mercy of the priests, it has given me wings 
which raise me to God, who is also my Father, to whom I am not, 
as I was to the priest, a mean servant ; He permits me to ex- 
perience his grace, and no man is able to separate me from Him.^' 

^^ Well, what is it that you have found ?^^ 

^^That there is no purgatori/ in which my soul is once to be 
tormented V^ 

"What is your idea of purgatory ?^^ asked Charles; "surely 
a gross and vulgar one, as though it were a kitchen-fire, in which 
the soul will experience all the pains which you feel when you 
burn yourself. But many good Catholics have a more refined 
idea of it. Their opinion of it is, that the soul will be purified 
of all the dross of sin, and they leave it undetermined how it is 
to occur. For the holy Council of Trent has certainly estab- 



178 . PURGATORY. 

listed tlie doctrine of purgatory^ but did not determine what 
representation men should make of it to themselves/^ 

'' That is a mere subterfuge, dear sir. The holy Council could 
have had no other conception of it than that which has been 
general among men until now : their idea was that it was real 
fire, and hence the Council of Trent says that souls will be 
'^ tortured'' by it. Your so-called refined idea is nothing but a 
subterfuge, by which men seek to avoid the ofi'ensiveness of a 
doctrine the falsehood of which is too evident. If the con- 
dition is one of torture j and if men for mercy's sake are bound 
to have a multitude of soul-masses read to deliver the soul from 
this torment, we must believe that it is real fire, or some other 
condition of indescribable agony." 

'' You are right ; the church believes that it is such a state 
of agony," Charles replied. 

'' But is not the expectation of a purgatory, in which pious 
souls are to be tormented after death, something frightful, that 
will not only embitter the dying hour of a good Christian, but 
fill him with alarm during his whole life ? And what a terrible 
thought, when a friend of ours, a husband or wife, a father or 
mother, dies, that we must believe, notwithstanding all their 
piety, that they are in awful torment, the very idea of which fills 
us with horror !" 

^^But, Giuletta, you certainly know that the church has the 
means of delivering souls out of purgatory, namely, — the masses 
for souls ?" 

^' Certainly ! After the church has first made us fear and 
tremble, then she offers us help. It really appears as if men 
were frightened for the express purpose of consoling them, and 
as if purgatory were invented for the masses, and not the masses 
for purgatory ! And how can such a poor person as I am be 
benefited by these masses ? — for they cost money. The church 
does not make it an easy matter to get out of purgatory ; for 
one mass is not sufficient. For the rich, who can pay for many 
masses, many are read, and for princes, they are read by thou- 



NO PURGATORY. 179 

sands. If one mass were sufficient to get a soul out of purgatory, 
it would be sinful extravagance to suffer the body of God to be 
sacrificed by the priest a hundred — yea^ a thousand times, for a 
thing already accomplished by the first mass. If, then, many 
masses are used — I do not exactly know how many — in order 
to escape the tortures of purgatory, you see plainly that the 
consolation of the church is consolation only for the rich and 
exalted, who can pay for many masses, but not for the poor, who 
must serve out their time in purgatory. ' The gospel is preached 
to the poor,^ said the Savior, when he (Matt. ix. 5) replied to 
the messengers of John the Baptist. But purgatory is no gospel 
or good news; for the poor it is tidings of horror. But the 
whole New Testament contains not a single word about pur- 
gatory.'^ 

^^ You do not perhaps know, Giuletta, that the passage 1 Cor. 
iii. 13, 15, is generally quoted in its favor.'' 

^^I know that very well; but only read for yourself the pas- 
sage, verses ninth to nineteenth in connection, and the purgatory 
of souls will immediately be extinguished. Paul warns the Cor- 
inthians against creating parties and following one distinguished 
teacher rather^than another. All the teachers, he says, by their 
teaching helped to build the temple of God, — that is, the Chris- 
tian community ; but what their materials were — whether stone, 
or wood, or hay — the fire of trouble and persecution would prove 
and decide. Then the building constructed of wood and straw 
will be destroyed by fire, and the master-builder, — that is, the 
teacher himself, — if he is saved, will only be saved by fire, — that 
is, certainly not without great damage to himself. The words do 
not refer to souls after death, but to the church on earth in 
times of persecution. The fire represents severe trials, but is 
by no means intended as real fire; for the building is also 
figuratively spoken of the Christian community, and stone, 
wood, and hay, which are to endure the fire, are figuratively 
spoken of good and bad doctrines, of truth and error. It would 
be foolish if in this whole simile you were to interpret the ex- 



180 SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION. 

pression fire literally^ but tlie others — temple^ stone^ wood, Lay — 
figuratively/^ 

^' Certainly that passage proves nothing, and I myself never 
used it as such/^ said Charles. ^^But you have found nothing, I 
suppose, that directly disproves the existence of purgatory V* 

^^Most certainly have I found enough, and it is just that 
which, to my joy, has delivered me from such great fear. It is 
already enough for me that Jesus and the apostles, who so often 
and extensively spoke of a future state, said not a word about a 
purgatory; for they could not have been silent about it alto- 
gether. But they speak in a manner which shows that there 
can be no purgatory for pious souls. Of poor Lazarus, Jesus 
says, (Luke xvi. 22,) ^And it came to pass that the beggar 
died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom ;^ therefore 
not into purgatory. To the thief on the cross he cried out, (Luke 
xxiii. 43,) ^ To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise,^ and this 
man was a robber, whose soul certainly was less purified than 
that of a pious man. On this I trust, and hence I have aban- 
doned all faith in purgatory, and am free from all fear. What 
could I think of the mercy of God ? Can I praise the mercy of 
a father who still suffers me to be tormented by a consuming fire, 
and, as it were, burnt out, although his Son sacrificed his life for 
me that he might forgive me, and the priest has unceasingly re- 
peated this sacrifice in the mass for me, although I tried my ut- 
most to fulfil his commandments ! And, sir, how can you con- 
ceive at all of the whole affair, without making the soul some- 
thing corporeal ? The whole idea is certainly taken from metals 
which are melted and purified by fire. The soul surely cannot 
be any thing as coarse as a piece of metal which is burnt out in 
the fire V 

" Such a vulgar idea of it cannot certainly be entertained, 
although that is the idea of the church,'^ said Charles. 

^^I believe that it cannot at all be understood, — that men can 
have no conception of it. I come to this conclusion from the 
manner in which I was purified of the dross of sin, which I 



ENCOURAGEMENT. 181 

brought witli me from Italy, by this blessed book/^ Qiolding up 
the New Testament,') '' There was no fire and no torture, although 
there was sorrow. I was brought to see the truth ; I learned to 
love it ; I resolved to practise it ; I do practise it to the best of 
my ability ; this is the history of my conversion, and no person 
can be purified in any other way. Sorrow purifies him as it did 
the prodigal son, whose father did not first let him go through a 
purgatory before he received him, but immediately prepared for 
him a feast of joy. Of this sorrow Paul sa^^s, (2 Cor. vii. 10,) 
^ For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be re- 
pented of/ Ho salvation,^ observe, not to purgatory, ^He that 
is dead,^ says the same apostle, (Rom. vi. 7,) ^is freed from 
sin.^^^ 

" Oh, Giuletta, your soul is full of light ! You are indeed 
happy.^' 

'' That I feel, and thank God. But I owe it altogether to the 
gospel, to which alone I will hereafter cling. I have expe- 
rienced to my salvation the fulfillment of what the Savior says, 
^Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto 

you/ ^' 

^^In God's name, cleave to it, Giuletta. I at least will not 
lead you in arty other way than that in which you yourself walk, 
conducted by the gospel.'^ 

" That would also be in vain. How blind I was that I won- 
dered so much, when we first entered the Evangelical countries, 
that presumed heretics were also prosperous, and that they were 
industrious, honest and moral ! I see plainly that the gospel daily 
exerts on them the same influence that it has exerted on me ; it 
makes them better and more contented, and with such a people 
our heavenly Father will be pleased.'^ 



182 DAYLIGHT DAAVNING. 



CHAPTEH XVIII. 

THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS. 

Charles did not end this conversation with Griuletta without 
some feeling of shame. By the simple guidance of the gospel, 
she had delivered herself from gross errors which her education 
had engrafted on her. This fact filled Charles with shame, inas- 
much as he had suffered himself to be seduced from the Protest- 
ant truth into these gross errors. He became more and more 
sensible of the precipitancy with which he had acted ; his regret 
became more painful, and he would have given much if he could 
have recalled all that he had said and done. The thought of re- 
turning to the Lutheran church occurred to him frequently. 
But the sensation of shame always suppressed it, inasmuch as 
such a step would appear to exhibit him to the world as change- 
able and fickle, or as a weak-headed youth who easily suffered 
himself to be led astray. The customary expedient of quieting 
his mind in this painful state of uncertainty was the consolation 
that, as a Catholic, he might be a good Christian and yet think 
of the doctrines as he pleased. The next evening he confessed 
to his friends that he could not withstand Griuletta' s Scripture 
proofs, and that this morning she had so clearly demonstrated 
the non-existence of a purgatory that he himself no longer 
believed it. 

^^I only wonder, dear Charles,'^ said Bernhard, ^^that you ever 
have believed it, as it so evidently is a remnant of paganism. 
The whole idea originated from the system of Zoroaster, who lived 
before Christ, in Media. He was a worshipper of fire, and 
taught, as his works still extant show, that at the end of time 
the whole world must go through a stream of fire, by which it 



SAINT-WORSHIP. 183 

will be purified and glorified in light. From him also the Pla- 
tonic philosophers among the Greeks took the idea of a purifica- 
tion after death. From these sources the opinion was also re- 
ceived by several church fathers^ as Origen and Augustin. But 
both seem to have regarded it rather as a figure of moral reforma- 
tion. It was bj no means a doctrine of faith at that time. It 
became such only through the Eoman bishop Gregory^ in the 
sixth centuiy, and then was gradually extended through the 
church. But the fear of purgatory, from which the priest alone 
could redeem, was too useful to the priesthood, and the masses 
for the dead founded upon it were too profitable to them, that 
they should permit this opinion to be abolished when it was 
once prevalent. The Council of Trent established it as an eternal 
article of faith in the Bomish church, and thus stamped as a 
Christian doctrine a thing that in its origin was as foreign to 
Christianity as the invocation and worship of angels, saints, and 
martyrs.^' 

" What V^ exclaimed Charles ; ^^ you declare this invocation 
and worship to be foreign to Christianity? I see an advantage 
of the Catholic church in that very thing, that she has so large 
a number of saints and martyrs, who are her ornament and glory, 
of which the^ Protestant church is wholly destitute. These 
heroes of faith and humility bear strong testimony to the truth 
of Catholic Christianity, and their example is a powerful stimulus 
to the faithful.'' 

^^ As far as I am acquainted with the legends of your pretended 
saints,'' observed the father, ^^ we have no reason to envy you 
that advantage. But even granting that the saints of your church 
were real saints, yet your glory on their account amounts to no- 
thing. For, as your church was first founded only in the eleventh 
century, the apostles, saints, and martyrs of the first thousand 
years are not yours exclusively, but are common to the whole 
church, and, hence, belong also to us. But to worship them and 
the angels, to consecrate churches, altars, and festivals to them, 
to pray to them, to depend upon their intercession with God, — 



184 SAINT- WORSHIP. 

all this^ on fbe best grounds, we regard as wrong. What do your 
confessions teach on this subject?'^ 

Charles replied : — " The Council of Trent, in the twenty-fifth 
session, says, ' The bishops shall teach that the saints intercede 
with God for men, — that it is good and useful humbly to invoke 
tbem, and to take our refuge in their intercessions, merits^ and 
assistance, for the attainment of blessings from God through his 
Son Jesus Christ, who is our only Redeemer/ 

" The Romish catechism, in the third part, says, ^ The angels 
are also to be invoked, partly because they continually see the 
face of God, and partly because they willingly undertake the de- 
fence of our salvation. There is evidence in the Holy Scriptures 
of this invocation. Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 26) prayed to the angel 
who wrestled with him, that he would bless him.^ The same 
catechism, in the fourth part, says, ^The holy church with 
great propriety directs her thankful prayers and invocations to 
the most holy mother of God, that she may by her intercessions 
reconcile us sinners to God, and obtain for us temporal and eter- 
nal blessings.' Hence, the Catholic church renders to these 
intercessors a sort of worship, and permits them to be chosen as 
protectors of individual men, churches, provinces, and countries, 
and teaches that men can receive from them protection against 
every kind of misfortune and the attainment of every kind of 
blessing.^' 

'^I am, indeed, an unlearned woman,'' said the mother; ^^but 
I think that I could refute the whole episcopal assembly at Trent 
from the Scriptures. For the doctrines of your bishops are so 
directly at variance with the Scriptures, that it is wonderful how 
these shepherds of your church could speak so decidedly against 
all Scripture. They say that we must invoke the saints and 
Mary, but the Lord says, (Ps. 1. 15,) ^ Call niDon me in the day 
of trouble : I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' In 
Ps. cxlv. 18, it is said, ' The Lord is nigh unto all them that 
call tipon him/ (v. 19 :) ' He will fulfil the desire of them, that 
fear him; he icill also hear their cry, and will save them,^ 



SAINT-WORSHIP. 185 

Hence, ifc is not necessary that it be first introduced to his notice 
and recommended to him by Mary and the saints. Jesus also 
teaches us to pray to God without such mediators, when (Matt, 
vi. 9) he says, ^ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our 
Father who art in heaven/ ^^ 

'^But, dear mother, is not intercession for others a general 
duty? And shall not the saints in heaven also perform this 
duty?'^ 

^' Intercession for others is undoubtedly a duty of love, accord- 
ing to 1 Tim. ii. 1, Luke vi. 28, James v. 15,^' replied the mother; 
^^but all the passages of Scripture treat only of the intercession 
of the living for the living, and not of the dead for the living. 
But this intercession is nowhere represented as something neces- 
sary in order to obtain help from God, The New Testament re- 
cognizes only one Mediator for us, — not Mary, not the saints, but 
Jesus Christ. In Kom. viii. 84, it is said, ' Christ is at the right 
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us / and in 1 John 
ii. 2 : — ^ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous.' This is also said in Heb. iv. 15, 16, 
and vii. 24, 25. We do not, then, need the intercession of saints 
and angels. ^ Ask,' it is said, ^ and it shall be given unto you.' 
But it is stiiriess allowable for the Christian to worship the angels 
and saints in any manner. In Isaiah xlii. 8, it is said : — ' I am the 
Lord ; that is my name ; and my glory will I not give to another, 
neither my praise to graven images.' Jesus commands, (Matt. iv. 
10 :) ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve.' And in Rev. xix. 10, xxii. 8, 9, we read that John was 
about falling down before the angel to worship him; but he de- 
clined the honor, with these words : — ^ See thou do it not; I am 
thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony 
of Jesus ; ivorship God/ Neither did the apostle Peter accept 
of this honor, but said to Cornelius, as he fell at the apostle's 
feet, (Acts x. 25,) 'Stand up; I myself am also a man.' You 
find not a single example of intercession of the dead for the 
living, or of angels for us, in the New Testament. That example 

16^^ 



186 SAINT-WORSHIP. 

of the angel by whom Jacob desired to be blest, which is quoted 
by the Council, is not at all applicable to this case. Thus Esau 
and Jacob were blessed by Isaac and Ephraim, and Manasseh by 
Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. xlviii.) Can any one, on that account, say 
that they worshipped Isaac or Jacob ? You see, then, that the 
Scriptures direct us to pray immediately to God, and not to 
angels or to saints ; and they are still further from allowing them 
divine honors.^' 

^^ But you are wrong, mother, if you believe that the Catholic 
church approves of the adoration of angels and saints. That is 
only paid to God. She only allows a religious veneration of them 
by invoking them for their intercession and assistance. '' 

'' That distinction is nothing more than a mere play on words,'' 
said she. ^' It is written in the Scriptures, ' Call 07i me in the 
day of trouble,' but not on an angel. To call on the name of 
Godj or to call on God^ is in many places in the Scripture equiv- 
alent to worshipping God or praying to him; and, if there were 
yet a difference between praying to God and worship or invoca- 
tion, it would certainly be unintelligible to the people, and that 
would really seduce them into a sort of idolatry." 

The father now spoke : — '' That is also the offensive feature 
of the subject to me, — that the abuse of regarding the saints and 
angels as subordinate Gods can scarcely be avoided. For he who 
seriously believes that Mary and the saints hear his prayers, must 
make out of them a sort of omnipresent and omniscient beings. 
Gregory, for example, is at the same time invoked in Naples, 
Eome, Piedmont, Sicily, Austria, Bavaria, France, Spain, Portu- 
gal, Mexico, Chili, Peru, Brazil, St. Domingo, and other places. 
Either he must be, like God, present at all these places, to hear 
these invocations, or he must, like God, be omniscient, to know 
all these prayers, sighs, and silent vows, or he can ascertain no- 
thing of all these, and, of course^ render no assistance. Particu- 
larly is this worthy of observation with respect to Mary, who is 
worshipped and invoked most generally. It is calculated that 
there are a hundred and twenty-five millions of Catholics in the 



SAINT-WORSHIP. 187 

world, and forty millions of Greek Christians, of whom the ma- 
jority daily pray, ' Hail, Mary/ They live dispersed over the 
whole earth. But the blessed spirit of Mary is to hear and pre- 
sent all their prayers to God. Is it not evident that men must 
presuppose that Mary is a sort of goddess, hearing all, omniscient 
and omnipresent V 

^^ Really, I never represented the matter to myself in that 
light, and see plainly that it militates against all our conceptions 
of a human soul,^^ replied Charles. ^' But it is still a consolijig 
thought to believe that the saints pray to God for us. God is 
such an exalted being that we feel ourselves separated from 
him as it were by a great gulf, which Mary and the saints fill 
up.^' 

^^That cannot be your sincere opinion; if so, you must not 
know God at all,^' remarked the mother. ^^ The Psalmist says 
of him, ^ Thou understandest my thoughts afar off; lo^ there is 
not a word on 7711/ tongue hut thou knowest it altogether.^ Bead 
the whole of the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, and learn from 
that how foolish it is to seek for an interpreter of our desires to 
the omnipresent God, who knows our inmost thoughts before 
they are distinct to ourselves, and to ask for a sainted intercessor 
with him who^is our gracious and merciful Father. Your wor- 
ship of the saints tends to alienate the hearts of Christians from 
God ; he becomes strange to them ; they accustom themselves to 
think only of men. God appears to them in the unworthy aspect 
of an Eastern king, whom no man can approach excepting 
through flattering intercessors and courtiers. Where is that 
love, that filial confidence, which the Christian has in God as his 
Father ? The Bomanist prays more frequently to Mary and the 
saints than to God. But, since you also pray to God, I wish to 
know why you do not always pray to God, but most frequently 
to the saints ? If you believe that he accepts prayer generally, 
and, if consistent with his wisdom, hears it, then you must also 
believe that he always hears, and feels disposed to answer it. 
Consequently, the intercession of saints is very superfluous, and, 



188 MARTYRS. 

in trutli, an insult to God, as ttougli he were first to be reminded 
of his mercy and rendered gracious througli men/' 

^^ You may not be wrong in that, dear mother; but yet it is 
not to be denied that the martyrs and saints deserve to be vene- 
rated and praised by us/' 

^'Yes/' said the father; ^^but only as all other pious Chris- 
tians generally, not as mediators between God and men. For 
we have only one Mediator, and that is Christ. We may lionor 
the heroes of virtue and the martyrs of the faith. We may 
cherish their memory and celebrate their courage ; but ]jray to 
them we dare not.'' 

^^ But the religious veneration of martyrs and of saints is so 
ancient in the church that it can be traced back to the first cen- 
tury," remarked Charles. 

^^ All that would follow from that is that the error was ancient; 
but certainly an error, for it militates against the Scriptures most 
decisively," added the father. 

Bernhard now said : — '^ And, besides that, an error which is 
indebted for its origin to an opinion which was exploded by 
Christianity. The ancient world before Christ, even the Jews, 
believed that the souls of all men, after death, went to a sub- 
terranean world, — that is, a place of abode under the earth, — an 
opinion which the first church fathers also still entertained, and 
which you will find extensively set forth by Tertullian, if you 
read the fifty-fifth and fifty-eighth chapters of his book ^ On the 
Soul.' To explode this idea was the design of Christianity, and 
hence it everywhere promises true believers freedom from death, 
or from this subterranean abode, and eternal life in heaven, or 
with God. But the thought that souls after death leave the 
earth entirely and go to heaven to God, appeared very singular 
and difficult to the ancient world, so that, for a long time, they 
adhered pertinaciously to the old idea of the subterranean world, 
and regarded immediate ascension to heaven as something extra- 
ordinary, — as a very distinguished reward. This they ascribed, 
as is seen from the oldest fathers, exclusively to the martyrs. 



MARTYRS. 189 

They believed tliat the reception of the martyrs into heaven was 
like that of Christ, because they, like Christ, suffered death. Of 
many passages of the old fathers which I could quote, I will only 
select the words of Tertullian, (^ Of th,e Resurrection,' ch. 43,) 
who says :— -' No one who bas departed from the body in death 
(without going into the subterranean world) can immediately 
abide with the Lord, unless he suffered martyrdom ; in which case 
he at once goes to paradise, and not into the lower worlds/ You 
can now easily see how men could come to regard the martyrs as 
intercessors, — namely, because they, and they alone, besides the 
angels, were considered as inhabitants of heaven, who surrounded 
the throne of Grod, and consequently (for so humanly did they 
conceive of this matter) had the opportunity of praying to God 
for the living. The ancient church then had still some ground, 
in a prevailing though erroneous and antichristian idea, for re- 
garding the martyrs as intercessors with God ; but there was no 
ground for extending this at a later day to the so-called saints, 
than, at most, the desire of substituting in the imagination of the 
converted heathen, in the place of their gods of which they were 
deprived, something else, which did not appear to militate against 
the unity of God. The saints and martyrs were substituted in 
the place of The demi-gods, or those men whom the Greeks and 
Romans regarded as demi-gods, because they were considered 
not to be in the lower world, but in heaven. '^ 

Charles observed, ^^If that be the case with respect to the in- 
tercession of saints, it is certainly founded on an erroneous opin- 
ion. But, dear Bernhard, why do you call the saints so-called 
or pretended saints ? Do you not believe that their virtues are 
genuine and worthy of imitation V^ 

"As the evening is far advanced, let us postpone that to an- 
other time.'^ 

"That is also my desire,^' said the father; "for, Charles, we 
have hitherto heard your accusations against our church, and your 
representation of the advantages which you ascribe to the Romish 
church. We have defended ourselves against the former, and 



190 GIULETTA AGAIN. 

the latter we tave examined by the light of Scripture and history. 
If you have joined the Romish communion from full conviction, 
you must also consider our arguments against your church, that 
3^ou may know how to answer us. It will not be much ; for, in 
our defence thus far, many principal points have been discussed 
and decided.^^ 



CHAPTER XIX. 

A THIRD ATTEMPT AT RESCUE. 



GiULETTA in the mean time was making rapid progress in re- 
ligious knowledge and experience. She found ifc rather difficult 
in all things to conform herself to Protestant modes of thought ; 
and it was not easy to dispense with some unessential outward 
forms, to which she had been taught to attach great importance. 

Another affair of a tender character was also making progress, 
but as yet there was nothing more than a tacit understanding 
between her and Charles. Everybody, however, agreed as to 
the expediency of the match; people said it would suit very 
well, and, as is usual in such cases, especially in country villages, 
it was a subject of conversation in all circles. 

Additional interest was attached to the lady by the fact of the 
well-known and insidious attempts to inveigle her back to the 
seminary. It was presumed, if they had succeeded in that, she 
would not have escaped again. 

It was now thought by all that no further attempts would be 
made, and that the poor persecuted girl would be left undis- 
turbed. 

For some days, certain strangers, with no apparent object in 
view, were seen loitering about the village and particularly in- 
specting the parsonage. They appeared anxious to avoid inter- 
course with others. They would come and go at intervals of a 



AN ADVENTURE. 191 

few days; but no particular notice was taken of them, and it was 
only after the occurrence about to be narrated, that almost every- 
body remembered having seen the strangers in the village. 

Giuletta had devoted some time to the study of botany, and 
frequently went into the woods and fields in search of flowers. 
On these excursions she was usually accompanied by Charles and 
Amelia, but sometimes she ventured to go alone. 

One day, as she had sauntered far into the woods in search of 
a particular plant that was known to grow in that locality, she 
was suddenly surprised at seeing two men rapidly approaching 
her. She presumed at first they were laborers going to their 
work ; but, as they drew nearer, she observed that they were 
directing their course toward her, and betraying a haste and 
confusion that were remarkable. This alarmed her, and she 
was soon rudely assailed and forced still deeper into the 
woods. She screamed and struggled; but one of the miscreants 
thrust his soiled handkerchief into her mouth, which almost 
stifled her. The poor girl was exhausted, and without much 
difficulty they dragged her along. Occasionally she recovered 
for a moment, and most piteously implored them to spare her. 
She promised them all she possessed. At one time, she fell on 
her knees, and with clasped hands and weeping eyes she entreated 
them to pity her. She pleaded in terms that would have moved 
a heart of stone ; but all was fruitless. 

One of them finally said, in a grufi*, foreign accent, — 

'^ We will not hurt you if you only go with us; but go you 
shall, by the Holy Virgin V 

'^ Gro where V^ she exclaimed. 

^' Where you came from V^ was the answer. 

^' To the seminary V^ she asked. 

^^ Never mind, my lady; only keep quiet. Do not fear any 
thing else ; but we have sworn to take you back. So you had 
better be quiet, or we shall use force. We have a carriage just 
beyond the woods.^' 

Relieved of the most dreadful apprehension of all; she became 



192 DELIVERANCE. 

comparatively calm, and was ready to submit to her fate. She, 
however, hoped that her long absence from home would excite 
alarm and induce them to send persons in search of her, or that 
she would meet some one in the woods who would rescue her. 

While they were proceeding slowly along, as fast as the fatigue 
and alarm of the poor girl would allow them, the loud barking 
of a dog was heard; and this was immediately succeeded by 
the sharp crack of a rifle. This alarmed the abductors and gave . 
hope to Griuletta. The rifleman had missed his shot, and the 
squirrel at which he had fired leaped from tree to tree in the 
dense forest in the very direction of the alarmed ruffians. The 
dog came bounding along, and, observing them, suddenly stopped 
and growled fearfully. It was not long before the huntsman 
came running along, for he knew that something unusual had 
thus suddenly interrupted the barking of the dog. When his 
approach was observed by the men, they instantly fled in an 
opposite direction, but not too soon to escape the recognition of 
the huntsman. 

The poor lady was overjoyed. She absolutely screamed with 
delight. She held out both hands to the welcome deliverer, and 
rushed toward him, as if half distracted with joy. 

A few moments sufficed to explain the whole afikir. The 
huntsman became desperately excited, and was about to start off 
in pursuit of the villains; but it at once occurred to him that the 
lady required some attention, and he remained. But still he 
could not refrain from crying out after them, ^^I know you, 
you scoundrels, and shall pay you well for all this V^ 

"Do you know them?^' asked Giuletta. 

" One of them certainly, and I suspect who the other is,'^ he 
replied. " The tall man is the gardener at the popish seminary 
some miles from here, and I think the other is a popish black- 
smith in the village in that neighborhood. What was their 
design in treating you thus ?^' 

The girl tremblingly said, " They intimated very plainly that 
they intended to take me back to the seminary V' 



RESULTS. 193 

^^ The infernal scoundrels I'^ muttered the man. 

Griuletta expressed her gratitude to him in the warmest terms, 
and, taking her watch from her belt, offered it to him ; but he said, 
^^ No, miss ; I am rewarded sufficiently in the pleasure of having 
rescued you out of the hands of these accursed persecutors/' 

He conducted her safely home, and the report of the affair 
soon spread through the neighborhood and excited universal in- 
dignation. It became the subject of newspaper comment; but, 
of course, the authorities of the seminary denied any participa- 
tion in or knowledge of it. 

The deliverer of Giuletta was subsequently rewarded in such a 
way that he could not refuse it; but no efforts were made to 
arrest the offenders. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE MORALITY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH — CHRISTIAN PERFEC- 
TION — INDULGENCE AND GOOD WORKS. 

CHARLES^had nothing to object to the request of his father 
to listen to the arguments in favor of the Protestant faith. It 
was reasonable. They had heard him ; he must now also listen 
to them, for he had nothing more that appeared worthy of bring- 
ing forward in his justification. "With great reluctance, he was 
obliged to acknowledge to himself that every thing by which he 
hoped triumphantly to justify himself, had vanished into air. 
True, none of his relations had yet uttered an expression which 
alluded even to the absolute necessity of his return to the Prot- 
estant church; but he certainly expected such a requisition from 
the resolute character of his father, and thought with trembling 
of that agreement which he had entered into with him at tJieir 
first conversation respecting the duty of abandoning an erring 
church. To receive more light on several points which Bernhard 

17 



19-1- ROMISH MORALITY. 

had refuted from the nature and character of the first church, he 
'took up the writings of the apostolic fathers, Justin and Tertul- 
lian, and read them with diligence. But they set before him a 
picture of the ancient church which was less and less like the 
present Komish church. These writings, far from affording 
him any weapons for the defence of his church, only sharpened 
more and more the weapons of his opponents. The state 
of mind which this occasioned was intolerable. He felt that 
he must soon come to a decision, and, at the same time, that 
nothing but a return to the truth so precipitately abandoned 
could again restore peace and harmony in his soul. So soon as 
he had once acknowledged this conviction, he became more con- 
tented; and hence in the evening he went, considerably composed, 
to hear what his friends would advance in opposition to the 
church of Ptome. 

^^The principal thing which I object to in your church,^' said 
the father, '^ is this : — that she has corrupted the science of morals, 
and has attached to a false virtue, which deserves not the name, 
the character of special holiness. The majority of the saints of 
the Middle and latter ages received the honor of saints from this 
false virtue.^' 

"This is no doubt also your view of the subject, Bernhard, 
and hence you yesterday said ' the pretended' saints. Give me 
your reasons,^^ said Charles. 

"On that subject I must necessarily be somewhat lengthy, 
and I pray you to grant me your attention a little longer than 
usual,^^ began Bernhard. "Before the time of Christ, there was 
an opinion prevalent in the East, that the body was the prison of 
the soul, and that matter was the origin of evil. This view of 
the body was not unknown to the philosophy of Plato and Pythag- 
oras, and was also entertained by the Hellenistic Jews, as the 
example of Philo of Alexandria shows; yea, it pervaded all that 
part of the world where Christianity first flourished, and hence 
was adopted by the first Christian teachers. But, unfortunately, 
it perverted morality. It was believed; for instance, that the 



PERFECTION. 195 

soul could only approximate perfection, or be made an acceptable 
instrument of the spirit of God and rendered worthy of union 
with God, partly by abstaining from every thing that would be 
agreeable to the body and that would excite the natural desires 
or gratify the senses, and partly by employing all severe measures 
to weaken and blunt the natural appetites, to mortify the body, 
and thus afford the soul a greater liberty in spiritual meditations. 
Even before the time of Christ, such abstinence, or mortificatioii 
of the JlesJi, as it was called, was not uncommon. The moral zeal 
of the first Christians led them to adopt this; and they soon 
carried it much farther. The natural appetites, which occasioned 
carnal enjoyments in satisfying them, were now regarded as sin- 
ful, and abstinence from this satisfaction of them as meritorious. 
The enjoyment of delicate food, matrimony, — in fine, every sort of 
luxury, indulgence, or mere carnal gratification, — was considered 
incompatible with Christian perfection. On the other hand, 
fasting, the most simple food and drink, severe abstinence from 
all public amusements and enjoyments, voluntary poverty, celibacy, 
the voluntary performance of humiliating services, were regarded 
as particularly meritorious and especially holy. Hence, a second 
marriage was reprobated as an evidence of great incontinence. 
The priests, if they made any pretensions to sanctity, lived with 
their wives as brother and sister, and many laymen did the same. 
From this was evolved very gradually the doctrine of the Eomish 
church respecting Christian perfection, or a piety which does 
more than the moral law enjoins, and which God does not pre- 
cisely demand, because it is not possible to all men, but which 
the apostles have still recommended as particularly acceptable to 
God. This constitutes the 'evangelical counsels of the Romisb 
church, and the actions flowing from them, the pretended 'good 
works' of that church. This perfection, according to your church, 
consists in celibacy, voluntary poverty, almsgiving, fasting, 
prayer, blind obedience to priestly superiors, retirement from the 
world and its business and enjoyments, or monastic life, and 
every sort of voluntary severe treatment of the body. Those who 



196 PERFECTION. 

distinguished themselves in this kind of abstinence and self-mor- 
tification received par excellence the name of saints. But this pre- 
tended virtue was carried to the greatest extent at the time when 
the innumerable mendicant monks arose, who made a peculiar 
merit of idleness, of supporting themselves by alms, and of living 
and wandering about in the most disgusting filthiness/' 

^^But will you condemn such voluntary abstinence, which was 
often founded on deep religious feeling ?^^ asked Charles. 

^^I grant that in the case of many it was founded on deep 
religious feeling; but it was evidently a false sanctity after which 
they strove. For it proceeded from incorrect views of human na- 
ture and the design of human life, and, to the greatest prejudice of 
Christianity, it cast into the shade the moral law, upon which the 
welfare of man depends. To live in lawful marriage, faithfully 
to bear all the burdens of domestic life, to bring up pious chil- 
dren for the state and the church, — all this, according to this 
doctrine of perfection, is nothing; but not to marry, not to lead 
a domestic life, not to have and educate children, is sanctity. 
To live among men, to work for them, to be engaged in trade or 
any kind of business, to serve the state and to be useful to society, 
— all that is nothing; but to lock up one^s self in monasteries, to 
renounce the world, and to be constantly engaged in pious exer- 
cises, is sanctity. But why should I expatiate on this subject? I 
will merely state the grounds on which I must reject this whole 
doctrine of perfection. That which cannot become general 
because, if it became general, it would dissolve the constitution of 
civil life and human society, and, consequently, frustrate all the 
designs of the Creator with man and render the extension of the 
church impossible, is not and never can be proper; it is not per- 
fection, but aberration from the truth, and enthusiasm. Against 
this principle you can indeed say nothing. But your pretended 
Christian perfection would unavoidably produce such a dissolu- 
tion of church and civil society, and hence the whole system is 
pernicious fanaticism. ^^ 

^^But the church does not intend that this Christian perfec- 



INDULGENCES. 197 

tlon shall become general, because all men nave not tne spirit 
necessary for it/' remarked Charles. 

^^Then it is not perfection, not sanctity; for, according to the 
directions of Christ and the apostles, every man is commanded to 
be perfect and holy. That which would be folly and corruption 
if it became general cannot be virtue when only a few practise 
it. It is then something merely allowable, but nothing good. 
A country filled with merely holy monks and nuns, instead of 
industrious fathers and mothers, would show very distinctly the 
complete folly of monkish virtue. And do you expect to recon- 
cile the blind obedience which constitutes a part of this perfec- 
tion, with morality, which must rather obey God than men? 
Has not this blind obedience in the monastic order been often 
most shamefully abused, particularly by the Jesuits ?'' 

^^But the church surely did not authorize such abuses T' said 
Charles. 

^^But she should not authorize the principles from which such 
abuses proceeded.'^ 

^^Has she really approved these principles of Christian per- 
fection V^ he asked. ^ 

^^ Do you yet ask that? Has she not approved them in every 
monastic order? Has she not founded on them her whole doc- 
trine of penances, which the Council of Trent declared as highly 
necessary? Has she not expressed her approbation of them in 
the worship of pretended saints? Has she not on them tried to 
justify the celibacy of the priests ? But, my friend, this subject 
has yet another feature, very serious and very destructive to 
morality. It is taught that the saints have, by their voluntary 
good works of Christian perfection, done more than God demands 
of men : they practised virtue above virtue, or works of super- 
erogation, and thus purchased merit before God of which they 
do not themselves stand in need. This extra merit, it is further 
taught, remains in the church ; and in these superfluous merits 
of the saints the church possesses an inexhaustible treasure, of 

which the pope in Rome possesses the key. To all those person g 

17* 



198 INDULGENCES. 

wlio fail in obedience to the moral law, and, instead of -merit, have 
the guilt of sin, the pope can supply from that treasure as much 
merit as they need to efface their guilt before God ; that is, he 
can grant them indulgence; and the written document certifying 
that he has out of this treasure of merit given them what their 
necessity required is — a hill of indulgence. 

^^How conveniently a man can procure virtue in your church! 
Why need he fulfill the law of morality with diligence and 
anxiety, and procure for himself any moral merit, since the multi- 
tude of saints have heaped up an inexhaustible treasure of merit, 
which he need only permit to be imputed to himself, and with 
which the church has always been very liberal ?^^ 

^^Bernhard, I cannot believe that it is so! This would be a 
real trade, which would vastly depreciate the value of morality/' 

'' Well, then, only hear the papal bull in which the late year 
of jubilee and the distribution of indulgences are proclaimed : — 

" ^ We have resolved to exercise the power which has been given 
to us from above, to open the fountains of heavenly treasures, 
which have accrued through the merits of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, through the Blessed Virgin his mother and the saints, to 
dispense which the author of mankind has granted us the power. 
We grant and vouchsafe grace in the Lord, forgiveness, and com- 
plete pardon of all their sins, to Christians who in the time of 
jubilee confess with true penitence and sorrow, strengthen 
themselves with the holy communion, and who devoutly visit at 
least once a day, for thirty days in succession, or periodically, 
the churches of St. Peter and of St. John, of Lateran and St. 
Mary Massora, and fervently offer prayers to God for the glori/ 
of the Catholic church, the extirj^ation of heresy, the harmony of 
Catholic princes, the salvation and peace of the Christian com- 
munity.' 

^^Thus you hear whence the pope distributes his gifts: — from 
the treasures not only of the merits of Christ, but also of Mary 
and the saints, which the pope— we know not why — represents 
as heaped up at Rome. You can also receive a portion of them, " 



ALMSGIVING. 199 

if jou go to Rome and pray for the extirpation of tlie church 
of your native land/' 

'^ Oh, Bernhard ! that was an unkind reflection V^ 

'' Pardon me ! my remark was really not intended to apply to 
you, but to the bull of the pope, which demands this from the 
faithful. I did not mean to wound your feelings, but to show 
you the monstrous absurdity of the doctrine and the moral mis- 
chief it occasions. But surely you cannot justify this use of the 
presumed holiness of the saints ? for it subverts all the principles 
of morality, and exhibits virtue — that is, the fulfillment of the 
moral law — as a matter of small importance, and thus depreciates 
it very low.'' 

'' Certainly I do not justify that use, but consider it an abuse ; 
but if any one chooses to follow the ' evangelical counsels,' as 
they are called, I cannot blame him for it ; the almsgiving that 
is included in it is certainly very useful, and is a work of Chris- 
tian mercy." 

The father now remarked, ^^That is the only one of your so- 
called good works that is of any benefit to human society, and it 
has established among you many excellent charitable institutions. 
But you will not deny that the other virtues of the saints — as 
celibacy, fasting, monastic life, prayer daily continued for hours 
in succession, blind obedience to the clergy, self-mortification, and 
the like — are not of the least benefit to human society, and only 
draw men away from the commandment, ' Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself.' And I cannot even approve of your 
almsgiving. With you the merit is not in the giving and the 
good you do thereby, but you seek it in the voluntary parting 
with your money or property. Almsgiving with you is a work 
of penance, by which you render satisfaction for your sins, as 
if you pay God for pardon ; and yet in it you only do your duty 
and nothing more. Hence, you go and cast money into the poor 
man's lap without choice or object, and thus you only make 
idlers and beggars, who literally swarm throughout all Italy, 
that one would believe that beggary and idleness themselves 



200 RELICS. 

belonged to Cliristian perfection. With us, the merit does not 
consist in the sparing of our abundance, but in the aid we 
render. Hence, we do not support the idle, but the weak and 
those unable to work ; and thus what we do (and it is really a 
vast deal) is not injurious to the public good, but useful.'^ 

Bernhard now continued : — '^ Your religious veneration of saints 
also engendered the veneration of relics^ which the Council of 
Trent established, and in which, as the whole world knows, so much 
deception and gross mischief are practised. This merit of relics, 
together with the pretended miracles connected with them, only 
nourishes the superstitions of the great mass ] but the effect is also 
this : — that with the more enlightened it renders Christianity itself 
and its history suspicious, if not contemptible. I often wonder 
that intelligent bishops of your church do not feel that a miracle- 
working relic is nothing more than a miracle-workiDg idol of a 
negro in Africa. '^ 

^^I cannot contradict you in that; and neither will I deny 
that I have often heard sensible Catholics highly disapprove of 
these things, and volatile ones ridicule and scoff at them most 
wickedly,^ ^ said Charles. 

" But if you acknowledge, my son,'' concluded the father, ^Hhat 
the whole system of saint virtue militates against the spirit of 
genuine Christian virtue, then you see here another proof that 
the Romish church has failed in the principal design of Chris- 
tianity, which is to deliver men from the dominion of sin and 
lead them into the path of Christian virtue. But let this suffice 
for this evening. When we meet again, I will invite your 
attention to some other things of a similar character.'' 



PAPAL MOPvALITY. ^ 201 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CONTINUATION — ABSOLUTION FROM OATHS — THE POPE'S MAR- 
RIAGE BLIND OBEDIENCE THE GOVERNMENT. 

^^It would not become me^ my son/^ began tbe fatber, ^^as a 
Protestant believer, to exalt the Cbristians of my own churcb 
above the Komanists in respect to tbeir morals. Jnclge for your- 
self. If I am to believe the accounts of travellers, Italy is pre- 
cisely tbe country wbere domestic and civil virtues fiourisb least. 
Now, I believe that I am not demanding too mucb when I say 
tbat in Rome, — wbere tbe pattern and supreme bead of Cbristians 
resides,— wbere tbe sacred and infallible priestbood reigns not 
only spiritually but temporally, — wbere all receive tbe true faitb 
from tbe fountain-bead, — wbere tbe temporal power wbicb tbe 
clergy bold in tbeir pious bands offers no binderance to tbeir 
activity in promoting morality, but every possible means of 
advancing it, — in Rome, wbere alone sentence is pronounced on 
tbe boliness and sinfulness of men, wbere beretics are condemned 
and saints canonized, — in Rome, wbere tbe vicegerent of Cbrist, 
witb bis apostles, tbe cardinals, resides as spiritual and temporal 
monarcb, — in Rome, Cbristian morality must flourish more tban 
in any otber place in tbe Cbristian world; tbere tbe wbole in- 
fluence of Christianity upon men must exhibit itself. Roman 
Christians must be patterns for the Christian world. Is this so, 
Charles? Speak.^^ 

^^No, truly, dear father; I am told you will not only not find 
more Cbristian morality there, but less, than at other places.''^ 

^^ Then I am fully justified in the conclusion that genuine 
Christian faith, genuine Christian character, — in a word, genuine 
Christianity, — is not found there. It is not to be imputed to the 



202 PAPAL MORALITY. 

climate^ for ancient Rome exhibited many splendid virtues; but it 
is to be attributed to the fact that the pope and the clergy^ with 
their temporal power and glory, have set themselves up in the 
place of Christ and the Christian church, and that the whole de- 
sign of Catholicism is not to make men virtuous and acceptable 
to Grod, but to make them obedient servants of the priesthood. 
Hence that eternal series of sacerdotal measures by which men, 
without ever being really reformed, are always absolved and 
conducted to heaven. But on this subject I have already spoken 
at the commencement of our discussions. Hence that praise of 
the virtues of the saints, which fills monasteries and monkish 
orders and enriches the churches and clergy. But of that we 
spoke last night. This evening I will direct your attention to 
several things which evidently must have an injurious effect on 
the morality of the Catholic population, and is indeed a serious 
charge against your church. The first is the cruelty which she 
has always exercised against those differing from her in opinion, 
the persecutions which she has in all ages excited against those 
who would not recognize the supreme authority of the priesthood, 
the monster of the Inquisition, which was begotten by them and 
which the popes nourished and supported, the millions of bloody 
sacrifices which your priests have occasioned for the maintenance 
of their dominion, and that everlasting unchristian condemnation 
and cursing of all Protestant Christians.^' 

^^I cannot deny,'' said his son, ^Hhat the popes of the 
earlier ages did charge themselves and their church with many 
sins of blood; but still I believe that now a milder spirit prevails 
in Bome, and that they no longer practise the barbarities of the 
dark Middle Ages." 

^^It is a miserable deception," quickly responded the father, 
^^only played off by the proselyters for the purpose of soothing the 
abhorrence which the cruelties of their church have excited in 
the minds of men. Did not the former Pope Pius YII. solemnly 
protest against it, at the Congress of Vienna, that the Protestant 
Christians in Germany should enjoy the same privileges as the 



INTOLERANCE. 203 

Romanists? Did not the same pope address a circular, dated 
Nov. 30, 1808, to all foreign Catholic courts, in which he said : — 
^It is as false as slanderous that the concordat (with France 
in 1801) established the toleration of other worship. This re- 
ligious treaty contains not a single word that has reference to 
any worship condemned Siud forhidden by the church of Rome' ? 

^^But this worship condemned by Rome was that of the Re- 
formed church in France. The same pope, in May, 1808, wrote 
to the French clergy : — ' The indifference (of the French code of 
laws) which prefers no religion above another is highly insult- 
ing to the church of Rome, and is opposed to her spirit; for this 
church, on account of her divinity and necessary unity, cannot 
unite with any oilier.^ If then the Romish church until this 
hour condemns us as heretics, does not acknowledge us as a 
church, and continually protests against our civil existence, you 
must confess that it is not the v:ill that is wanting, but the 
powerj to treat us according to the spirit of the Middle Ages. 
Does not this continual hatred and unceasing intolerance stand 
in open contradiction to the spirit of Christianity, which com- 
mands us to love those who differ from us, — yea, even our enemies, 
— and everywhere enjoins mercy and liberality?'^ 

"I must confess that, my father; and I myself believe that the 
world would fare badly, with respect to liberty, if the Catholic 
princes and people would act out the principles of hatred and 
persecution which are incessantly preached to them from Rome.'^ 

^^But the clergy of your church have also exerted a very cor- 
rupting influence on the morality of their brethren of the faith, 
in openly advocating and supporting immoral principles. I 
will say nothing of indulgences, for we entertain the same opin- 
ion of their pernicious effects. But how often have your popes 
of ancient and modern days declared the solemn oath of Christians 
invalid, and thus undermined the sacredness of swearing by 
oath and reverence for God in the hearts of men ! And did they 
not establish the principle that no faith was to be held with 
heretics ? But all this would have been of comparatively small 



20-1- IMMORALITY. 

importance^ if only tlie Romisii cliurcli had not given birth to 
the Jesuits J received and nurtured them^ yea, even now again 
restored them. The immorality of the Jesuits has become pro- 
verbial in Europe. They maintained the abominable principle 
that the end justifies all, even the worst means, and that hence 
rebellion, regicide, perjury, falsehood, and every thing infamous, 
was allowable for the glory of God. They established the scan- 
dalous doctrine of probability, as they called it, according to 
which, a wicked action was allowed if only probably a good effect 
might be expected from it. They taught mental reservation in 
oaths and promises; taught that an immoral action is not sin- 
ful, if in the execution of it men only thought of God. They, 
in a word, became so impious and dangerous, that the universal 
complaints of the CatJioUc courts procured the dissolution of the 
order. According to a calculation made, it was found that sixty- 
eight Jesuitical writers encouraged and enjoined the crime of 
regicide. ^^ 

^^But the Catholic church did not sanction such abominable 
doctrines,' ' said Charles. 

"1^0) that she did not do,'^ rejoined the father, ^^as the desire 
for the dissolution of the order shows. But the popes connived 
at these doctrines; they protected the order against the reigning 
powers as long as possible; they have again restored it; they 
cherish and recommend it everywhere. But what your infal- 
lible pope, the inspired head of the inspired priesthood, — to which 
the Jesuits also belong, — does, is chargeable upon your whole 
church, which recognizes him as the general father of all Chris- 
tians. Suppose a President, who had dismissed a cabinet officer 
of corrupt principles for injustice and fraud, would again restore 
him to favor and highly honor him : who would not be forced to 
believe that he also sanctions those principles and the practice 
of them V 

^^ It is certainly bad enough to restore an order which the 
moral voice of the Catholic world condemned, without disap- 
proving of their former corruptions and false principles univer- 



INNOVATIONS. 205 

sally known, and without giving to tlie world some security or 
only intimating that it had been reformed/^ observed Charles. 

The father continued : — ^^ Grenerally speaking, the pope cannot 
be considered distinct from the Romish church; for the Roman- 
ists themselves connect him so closely with it that they will 
scarcely regard those as Christians who will not submit to him, 
and all the bishops and clergy of the Catholic world at their 
ordination must swear ^true obedience' to him. Now see, my 
son, how the popes have always maintained principles which are 
directly opposed to the gospel, and thus also led Romish Chris- 
tians to disobey the declarations of Christ and the apostles. 
They have always maintained, and, of course, their bishops also, 
that Protestant Christians are damned, because they do not 
believe more than the gospel contains, and hence show no dispo- 
sition to know any thing of the peculiar and modern doctrines of 
the Romish church; and yet you have seen, from the passages 
quoted from Christ and his apostles in our earlier conversations, 
that the Bible everywhere declares simple Evangelical faith in 
the Divine Savior as sufficient for salvation, and makes our eter- 
nal destiny pre-eminently dependent on a Christian life. Besides 
this, the popes have set this bad example to the Christian world : — 
that, although they wish to be successors of Christ and the apos- 
tles and receive all their power from them, yet they have estab- 
lished doctrines and ceremonies which are opposed to the express 
direction of Christ and the apostles. They have set the example 
of conscious and premeditated disobedience. Thus Jesus at the 
last supper distributed the cup, so also the apostles and the whole 
apostolical church ; but the popes and the bishops deny the cup 
to the laity. Paul thus several times writes, (1 Tim. iii. 2, 12 ; 
Tit. i. 6:) ^A bishop shall be the husband of one wife;^ but the 
pope and his bishops have established as law, A bishop shall be 
the husband of no wife. Paul (1 Tim. iv. 3) censures those who 
forbid marriage and command abstinence from meats; and, in 
verse 8, utters the correct principle : — ^ Bodily exercise profiteth 

little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of 

18 



206 CELIBACY. 

the life that now is, and of that which is to come;' but the popes 
and the bishops forbid the priests to marrj^ declare celibacy to be 
a more blessed state, and teach that men avert the punishments 
of God and render satisfaction for their sins by works of fasting 
and other bodily exercises/' 

'^ I can scarcely believe, dear father, that our church has ever 
declared celihacy to be a more pious state than matrimony. For 
how, then, could she honor marriage as a sacrament V^ 

Bernhard observed, ^^ The tenth canon of the twenty-fourth 
session of the Council of Trent reads thus : — 

^^ ^If any one declares that matrimony is to be preferred to celi- 
bacy, and that it is not hetter and niore blessed to remain in celi- 
bacy than to marry, let him be accursed/ 

'' Here, indeed, there is no prohibition of marriage, but still 
marriage is declared as not good, — a sort of necessary evil ; and it 
is maintained that it is more blessed — that is, it more certainly 
leads to salvation — to be unmarried. In this, your church stands 
in open contradiction to the apostle, who says, ' The bishop shall 
be the husband of one wife,' — who blames those who forbid mar- 
riage. It contradicts the institution of God from the beginning, 
who (Gen. ii. 18) said, at the creation of the woman, ' It is not 
good for man to be alone,' inasmuch as you teach, ' It is better 
and more blessed that he remain alone.' Yea, you thereby cen- 
sure God, who, in creating two sexes and commanding them, ^Be 
fruitful and multiply,' rendered matrimony necessary for estab- 
lishing a state that was not good and blessed." 

'^True as all is that you have said about the praise which our 
church bestows upon celibacy," said Charles, ^^yet I must ob- 
serve that the doctrine of the Council of Trent has the declaration 
of the apostle Paul in its favor, who (1 Cor. vii. 1-8) says, ^It 
is good for a man not to touch a woman. I say, therefore, to 
the unmarried and widows. It is good for them to abide even 
as I; but, if they cannot contain, let them marry.'" 

'' I am well acquainted with those passages ; but their appli- 
cation is totally different," replied the minister. '^ For why does 



ALLEGIANCE. 207 

Paul advise against marrying at that time ? Not because lie 
thought it better and more blessed to remain unmarried^ — not 
because thereby the way to Christian perfection and virtue would 
be found more easy^ as you teach^ — but because he expected the 
approach of very troublesome times, when misfortune could be 
more easily borne if persons were alone, than if bound by wife or 
husband and children. This he says in the twenty-sixth verse: — 
' I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress, 
I say, that it is good for a man so to be,^ — that is, remain un- 
married. The church, in that early age, generally believed that 
the approach of the melancholy times and alarms, which Christ 
(Matt, xxiv.) had prophesied would precede his coming, was near. 
On that account they held it good (not more blessed) to remain 
unmarried. ^^ 

'' You see then, Charles,^^ said the father, '' that the popes and 
the bishops have spoken of matrimony in a manner that contra- 
dicts the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures. And how do the 
principles and actions of your priests and the popes militate 
against the commands of the gospel respecting human govern- 
ment ! Paul writes, (Rom. xiii. 1 :) ' Let every soul be sub- 
ject to the higher powers; for there is no power but of God; 
the powers that be are ordained of God.' And, (1 Tim. ii. 1 :) 
^ I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for 
kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a 
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty/ And 
Peter says, (1 Pet. ii. 13-17,) ' Submit yourselves to every 
ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king 
as supreme, or unto his governors. Fear God; honor the king !' 
This is the voice of the holy apostles. But what has the pre- 
tended successor of Peter done ? He dissolved the oath of allegi- 
ance of the subjects of the German emperors, of the kings of 
France, of England, and Naples; he set up and deposed em- 
perors and kings, bestowed aw^ay kingdoms, and maintained that 
he could give and take away crowns.'' 



208 OBEDIENCE. 

^^But that was only in the times of the Dark Ages/^ said 
Charles. 

'' Well, only hear what the pope wrote, as late as April 16, 
1701, to the king of France and other Catholic rulers, on the 
occasion of the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick the Third, 
taking upon himself the dignity of a king of Prussia : — 

^^ ^Beloved son in Christ! Although we believe that your 
Majesty will in no wise sanction the proceeding of Frederick, 
Margrave of Brandenburg, who, setting a most infamous example 
to the Christian world, has undertaken publicly to usurp the 
royal title, yet we cannot let it pass by in silence, because such 
a deed is opposed to the character of papal institaiionsj and is 
injurious to the reputation of the sacred chair, inasmuch as the 
sacred royal dignity cannot be assumed by a person who is not a 
Catholic loitJiout a contempt of the church. 

'' But the kings and governors, for whom Paul and Peter com- 
mand men to pray and to whom they enjoin obedience, were 
even heathen, — namely, the Roman emperors, their governors 
and magistrates. But the popes do not even 'honor^ Christian 
kings, and wish to be the rulers not only of Catholic but also of 
Protestant princes. The pious apostles wished that Christians 
should pray for heathen emperors and governors ; but the late 
Pope Leo, in his bull on the jubilee, warns the faithful to pray 
for 'Catholic princesj' but not for Protestant rulers, and also for 
^ the extiriKttion of heresy.^ But the contradiction extends still 
further. Paul commands the Christians at Home (Rom. xiii. 6, 7) 
to pay without refusal the tribute imposed by the heathen author- 
ities; but the popes maintain that, without their consent, no 
prince has a right to impose taxes on his subjects.^' 

'' What pope ever uttered such monstrous arrogance V asked 
Charles. 

^^ Urban the Eighth, who, in 1627, issued the famous Green 
Thursday Bull, containing seventeen maledictions, which on every 
Green Thursday is read in St. Peter's church at Rome, in which 
it is said word for word : — 



THE SACRAMENT. 209 

^'^We excommunicate and condemn all who, in their coun- 
tries, impose or increase, or demand to be imposed or increased, 
any new taxes or assessments, except in such cases which are 
GRANTED them bj right or hy jparticular permission of the apos- 
tolical chair. ^ 

^^ Confess, dear son, that in these things your popes have 
exalted themselves above Christ himself and the apostles, and 
demand more obedience for themselves than for those whose vice- 
gerents and successors they pretend to be. Yet Jesus says, 
(Matt. X. 24,) 'The disciple is not above his master, nor the 
servant abo^sje his lord.^ And here is the ground of their pro- 
hibition to the laity to read the Scriptures in the language of the 
country, — not so much because they believe that it would be in- 
jurious to the laity, as because they fear that the laity might 
find many things in the Bible quite different from what the popes 
and bishops have established/^ 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE CUP IN THE SACRAMENT — EXTREME UNCTION — 
GIULETTA's RESOLUTION. 

Sunday arrived, and the whole family, as usual, attended 
church, where the Lord's supper was administered to numerous 
communicants. Griuletta did not fail to be present, and lost not 
a single word of the whole service. As the members of the 
family, after church, were collected together in the garden, the 
mother, who entertained a very favorable opinion of Giuletta, 
asked her how she had been pleased with the Protestant celebra- 
tion of the Lord's supper. She extolled it as very appropriate 
and edifying. She was particularly pleased that the Lord's sup- 

18* 



210 THE SACRAMENT. 

per was not administered, as among the Catholics, in Latin, but 
in the language of the country, and that the cup was also dis- 
tributed. 

^^How did it happen, Charles,^^ asked the mother, ^^that in 
the Romish church the cup is refused to the laity? There ap- 
pears to me to be no reason at all for it.^^ 

He thus replied: — ^^The Council of Trent, in the twenty-first 
session, says, ^We dare not doubt that the partaking in one 
kind is sufficient for salvation. For, although Christ instituted 
the supper in both kinds, of bread and wine, it does not 
follow that all faithful Christians are bound to partake in both 
kinds.^^^ 

^^I should like to know why not?'' she asked. ^^If the words 
of the Savior, 'Take and eat^ authorize the partaking of the 
bread, with equal right do the words 'Drink ye all of this^ 
authorize the partaking of the cup. If the latter is not obligatory 
on all Christians, I cannot see how the former is binding on all. 
The whole ancient church partook of bread and wine, as the 
passage, 1 Cor. xi. fully shows. ^^ 

'' The council acknowledges that, inasmuch as they say, ' Though 
it is true that partaking in both kinds was common in the begin- 
ning of Christianity, yet that custom in the lapse of time changed 
to a very great extent,' '^ said Charles. 

^^But it did not follow, from that, that this custom was good 
and right, and that they were authorized to establish it as law. 
In doing that they certainly sinned against the express words of 
Christ, ^ Drink ye all of this,''' observed Griuletta. 

^^ Neither is it true," said the father, ^^what the council says 
of this custom. It first arose only in the twelfth century in 
England; hence the Greek church, which separated from the 
Latin as early as the eleventh century, always distributed the 
wine. But the ground of it was the opinion, which was first 
raised in the ninth century, that bread and wine were changed 
into the body and blood of Christ. Because it was feared that 
the laity would let a drop of the blood of the God-man full to the 



THE SACRAMENT. 211 

earth, or wipe it from their mouth, they gradually withdrew the 
cup from them in consequence of this superstitious fear/^ 

^^The Romish catechism also gives other grounds, — namely, 
the wine would become sour if it were kept like the host/^ said 
Charles. 

^^And yet why do you preserve the wine? Because you be- 
lieve it is no longer wine, but the blood of the God-man. But 
that it becomes sour shows plainly that it is yet wine,^' observed 
his father. 

'^The catechism says, further,^^ continued Charles: — ^^^ There 
are many who cannot endure the taste of wine, yea, not even the 
smell; and in many countries there is great scarcity of wine, and 
the procurement of it difficult and expensive.'' ^^ 

^^ Unfounded reasons 1^^ exclaimed his father. ^^ Wine is not 
offensive to one in a million of men ; why should it be withheld 
from all ? Shall we abolish preaching because a few in the 
congregation are deaf? If wine in some cold countries is diffi- 
cult to procure, it should not be also forbidden in warm coun- 
tries. But the small quantity that is used in the Lord's supper 
can be procured in all countries of the world. All these things 
could at furthest only justify an exception to the rule, but never 
could constitute a rule.^^ 

Giuletta now said, ^^ Eating and drinking belong together, and 
are essential to human life. As these in the sacrament are 
figures of heavenly food or of grace, both must be given to men, 
as Jesus gave not only bread to eat but also wine to drink. A 
half sacrament is no sacrament at all.^^ 

^^The Bomish catechism furnishes another reason, and that is 
the doctrine of concomitance , which the Council of Trent also 
established in the thirteenth session, — viz. : that the blood is also 
contained in the body of Christ, and hence the partaking of 
the bread is at the same time partaking of the blood of Christ/' 
said Charles. 

^^I am acquainted with that invention of the scholastics, but 
can never think of it without disgust. For the thought of the 



212 THE SACRAMENT. 

hloody fiesh of Christ is sometliing exceedingly indelicate to 
me/^ remarked his father, 

'' But they certainly do not mean that V^ said the mother. 

^^ Assuredly! For the Romish catechism^ in express words, 
declares it to be a heretical error if any one maintains that the 
bread contains the mere bloodless hody of the Lord/' 

^^Then I must confess/' continued she, ^Hhat I have no con- 
ception of what you call the bloody body of the Lord. That 
fresh-killed meat is bloody I well know; but to apply this to 
the glorified body of Christ is to me out of all reason. This 
vulgar conception also flatly contradicts the apostle Paul. He 
describes the bodies of those risen and the body of Christ since 
his resurrection (1 Cor. xv. 42, &c.) quite differently. He says, 
' It is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption ; (but not 
consisting of flesh and blood;) it is sown a natural body; (con- 
sisting of flesh and blood;) it is raised a spiritual body.' 
Verse 50 : — ' Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption 
inherit incorruption.' In Phil. iii. 21, he says, ^Christ shall 
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his 
glorious body.' " 

^^As respects myself," said Giuletta, ^^I hold to this: — that 
Jesus took the cup and said, ^ Drink ye all of this 1' The learned 
subtlety that the blood was in the flesh Jesus certainly knew 
as well as the bishops of Trent, and hence, if it had any ap- 
plication here, lie could have spared himself the distribution of 
the cup. It would also follow, from that, that the cup was not 
at all to be taken, and that the priests in no case had to drink 
it." 

"Giuletta is perfectly right," remarked the father. "Thus 
they could also baptize in the name of God, and not, according to 
the command of Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, because, according to the doctrine of the Trinity, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in God." 

" I must acknowledge to you, friends, that there is no tenable 



EXTREME UNCTION. 213 

ground for witliliolding the cup. But tlie Evangelical church 
has not done right in abolishing extreme unction, inasmuch as it 
was undoubtedly instituted by the apostle James. '^ 

The father took this up^ and said^ ^^ Let us read the passage in 
its connection; James v. 13-16: ^Is any among you afflicted? 
let him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing psalms. Is any sick 
among you ? let him call for the elders of the church ; and let 
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the 
Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up; and, if he have committed sins, 
they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, 
and pra?/ one for another , that ye may he healed. The effectual 
fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.^ You see 
that the apostle gives good rules, which refer to three conditions, 
— namely, affliction, joy, and sickness. You cannot contend that 
the third good rule is the institution of a sacrament, or you must 
also grant that it is also a sacrament to pray in the days of afflic- 
tion and to sing psalms in the days of joy. The first two rules 
no one has ever explained as prescribing a sacrament, and conse- 
quently the third cannot be so considered. But what the apostle 
here advises is not your extreme unction. Among you it is 
performed by one man, and he is the priest; but the apostle 
says the elders, not the elder. He did not regard it as a priestly 
business, and hence at the conclusion he says, 'Pray one for 
another ; confess your faidts one to another.' He excludes 
none; he speaks of that which all should reciprocally do; not 
of that which concerns the priest. But he does not deduce any 
particular effect from the anointing with oil. We see from Mark 
vi. 13, where it is said, ' They cast out many devils, and anointed 
ivith oil many that were sick, and healed them;' that anointing 
with oil was a medical application which is yet practised in the 
East. You, on the other hand, teach that oil, because conse- 
crated by the bishops, has a sacramental influence in driving 
away the devil from the departing soul and procuring for it the 
grace of God. James only mentions the use of oil because at 



214 RESOLUTION. 

that time it was customary, and rather refutes the opinion that 
oil had a particular effect, inasmuch as he says, ^And the prayer 
of faith shall save the sick; for it availeth much/ It is not 
the oil, but the prayer, that he holds out as the principal thing; 
so that Christians should not think that any dependence was to 
be placed on the use of oil. If then a Protestant Christian in 
sickness calls for pious friends or his minister to pray for him, 
he conforms to this direction of the apostle, who gives it, not to 
ordain a sacrament for the dying, but to aid the sick in their 
recovery. Only for the last object does the Greek church prac- 
tise the anointing with oil.^^ 

^^I am at least convinced that my Savior will not reject me if 
I die without being anointed by a priest, provided I do what he 
demands of those who enter into life, — that is, keep his command- 
ments,'^ said Griuletta. 

^^ You are right !'^ said the father. ^^ Adhere to that, and be 
constantly diligent in the practice of Christian virtue ; then you 
need not fear that a priest can close the gates of Heaven against 
you. But you do not need him to open them for you ; priests 
and laymen are equally subject to the judgment of God, and 
both need his grace.^^ 

^^I am glad that you think so precisely with me; and this 
gives me courage to ask two questions. They are these : — 
whether I dare celebrate the Lord's supper with the congrega- 
tion here, and whether the pastor would reject me V^ asked 
the lady. # 

^^Giuletta, you appear too intelligent,'^ replied the father, 
^Hhat I should consider these questions, with which you surprise 
me, as the result of inconsiderateness. Hence I must tell you 
that you cannot celebrate the Lord's supper with us, if you still 
regard us as heretics and condemned, and not as your Christian 
brethren ; for the Lord's supper is a feast of brotherl}^ love, and 
they who celebrate it must regard each other as brethren. '' 

^^If that is the condition, then I can commune with you with 
a good conscience. I am no longer a Eoman Catholic, but a 



RESOLUTION. 215 

Protestant Christian, and I acknowledge you as my Christian 
brethren. Do not look at me with so much surprise ! I am in 
real earnest, and it is my maturely-considered determination.^' 

^^But who, dear friend, taught and instructed you?'' asked 
the father. 

'^Here ! this book ! — the gospel, — the discourses of Jesus and 
the writings of the apostles. These alone will hereafter be my 
only guide, for they alone are the original teachers of Christi- 
anity. The pope I will leave in possession of his dignity and 
honors, but I can no longer consider him as the vicegerent of 
Christ, nor the supreme bishop of Christians; and I can no longer 
believe him and the bishops, except so far as they teach out of 
this holy book." 

^^If that is your sincere conviction, then you have adopted 
the fundamental principle which we maintain against the Romish 
church; then you are in so far a Protestant Christian. But 
have you considered every thing? Oh, be precipitate in no- 
thing ; for it is dangerous to be rash in such an important mat- 
ter. I will not dissuade you from taking a decided step, but far 
be it from me to persuade you to it ! Your own inclination must 
actuate you, your own conviction guide you; for you alone are 
answerable for what you do, and not another," said the father. 

"I have considered all things well. No earthly expectation, 
no hope of gain, actuates me; my faith draws me, — my own 
heart. Oh, if you only knew how it was with my soul once, and 
how it is now I Once, anguish, fear, anxiety ; now, content- 
ment, joy, confidence I" 

^^I believe you, Giuletta ! You are not deceiving us. Grant 
her request, dear husband," said the mother. 

^^In this matter I can properly neither grant nor refuse; but 
I can advise, and especially because she has here no friend 
except ourselves, and is a stranger in the country. Kemember 
that you as a Romanist can reckon upon much support and aid 
from the adherents of the Romish church, which you will lose so 
soon as you unite yourself with us." 



216 RESOLUTION. 

^^I have tliouglit of that^ and do not desire to be aided an^i 
preferred to worthy natives of the country on such grounds/^ 

'' If you are really in earnest^ you must do one thing before- 
hand; you must go and mention your determination to some 
minister^ and must suffer ^^ourself to be examined and instructed 
as far as is necessary/^ 

^^ I feel that this^ even if not necessary, is still proper, and am 
prepared to do it. To whom with more propriety could I express 
my resolution than to you ? I will put myself under your pas- 
toral care, and now and forever declare myself a Protestant be- 
liever. '^ 

All present were deeply moved. The mother fell on the young 
lady's neck and wept tears of joy. The daughter, who was called 
in, embraced her tenderly. Charles tried to conceal his emotion, 
but could not. The father, in a tone expressive of the deepest 
feeling, said, ^ Let us pray -/ and they all knelt while the father 
poured out his heart in fervent thanksgiving for the restoration 
of this lone stranoer to the true faith in Christ. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CHARLES IN A DILEMMA — A MAN CAN BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN 
AS A CATHOLIC. 

The family was alone, and the conversation of the evening re- 
lated exclusively to Giuletta. The mother extolled the extensive 
knowledge she had gained of the New Testament 3 the father ap- 
plauded her clear understanding and correct views; Amelia spoke 
in admiration of her amiable disposition, and Charles bore testi- 
mony to her virtue and intelligence. He related the interviews 
he had had with her about her religious scruples, by which the 
father was yet more deeply convinced that it was nothing but 



A DILEMMA. 217 

the silent power of the divine word whicli had here purified a 
mind from erroneous opinions engrafted upon it in its youth ; 
which gave him occasion to say, jocosely, that after this he would 
not think it strange in the pope to exhibit so much zeal against 
the reading of the Bible by the laity. 

These remarks relative to the change of mind in the lady 
were so well suited to the son, that he could not avoid feeling 
their applicability to himself. The youthful sincerity of Amelia 
had often induced her earnestly to request him to abandon his 
Romanism, and, without saying any thing more about it, again to 
return to the Protestant church. A formal public adoption of 
the faith did not appear to her to be necessary. Charles would 
willingly have submitted to that proposal, if his conversion to the 
Romish church had really been so little known to the public as 
he at first flattered himself. Notwithstanding the family had kept 
it a secret, yet it became extensively known, and they did not 
know how. Even the day on which Charles adopted the Romish 
confession, and all the minute circumstances attending it, were 
spoken of in public. Only a short time before, a Romish phy- 
sician, by the name of Frederick, had settled in the place, where 
he was much esteemed for his intelligence and moral worth. He 
was distinguished for his liberality to the poor, for he not only 
accepted nothing for his services, but even furnished the medi- 
cines at his own expense. Only a few days before, he had saluted 
Charles in public company as his brother in the faith, and, un- 
pleasant as was the salutation, yet he had publicly to acknowledge 
himself a Romanist. At the same time the doctor told him, 

though secretly, that his conversion had been heard of in D , 

and that it was expected he would betake himself thither for pro- 
tection, where he would be most heartily welcomed. Under these 
circumstances, it appeared to Charles that a silent return to the 
Protestant church, as though nothing had happened, would only 
give occasion to greater clamor and public conversation. 

The mother entertained a different view of the subject. She 
could not refrain from telling the son how happy she would be 

19 



218 A DILEMMxi. 

if he could retrace tlie precipitate steps lie had already made. 
How cheerfully would he have done it if it could have been 
accomplished without shame and exciting public observation! 
For he had to acknowledge that he was no longer a Catholic in 
faith^ that all his doubts against the Protestant church had been 
removed; and that he had completely failed in justifying his con- 
version. 

The father had thus far maintained a total silence. But it 
was this silence which made Charles feel as men do on a sultry 
day before an approaching storm. He well knew the decisive, 
resolute character of his father, and was not deceived on this 
occasion ; for the father, after he had asked him in the evening 
whether he had yet any thing important to advance in justification 
of his conversion to the Romish church and he had answered 
in the negative, at once demanded his immediate return to the 
Protestant church. ^^You have,^^ said he, ^^ yourself acknowl- 
edged, and were forced to grant, that all the advantages which 
you plead in favor of the Eomish church, and by which you 
sought to justify your course, are either possessed by our church, 
or are unfounded, and on the other hand, all the charges you pre- 
ferred against our church were groundless. Yea, what was most 
important of all, you were forced to grant that the Protestant 
church admirably serves the whole design of Christianity, but 
that this was not the case with the Romish church ; you yourself 
proposed and sanctioned the principle, that in such a case it was 
the privilege and duty of a man to abandon his church, and to 
choose the church which really answered the design of Christ ; — 
you have'^ (he continued in an elevated voice) ^^ given me your 
solemn promise to fulfill that duty; I now demand the fulfillment 
of that promise.'^ 

^' But, dearest father, what a noise will such a step occasion ! 
In what an unenviable light I shall appear ! I shall be re- 
garded as a fickle-minded youth, and they will believe that I be- 
came a Catholic from motives of worldly policy. The Catholics 
will hate me; the members of the Protestant church will mistrust 



CONSULTATION. 219 

me — perhaps despise me ! Ah, dear father, release me from my 
promise V^ 

^* Only see how conscientious you are about the opinions of 
the world I But you did not think, when you abandoned your 
own church, that you would grieve your parents, forfeit their 
love, become offensive to your fellow-citizens, and that at your 
return they would look upon you with mistrust, contempt, or — the 
better-disposed of them — with pity ! Then, when error was in 
question, all this was nothing ; but now, when the truth is in ques- 
tion, you seem to be very tenderly concerned about the judgment 
of the world ! Take care, Charles ! You yet have time to regain 
the esteem and love of your friends, or to lose them forever V^ 

^^ Speak more mildly to your son, dear husband,'' said the 
mother ; ^^ only think that he was far distant from us and from 
all his friends when he made that inconsiderate step. If he had 
become unfaithful to the truth here in our midst, then your 
severe judgment might have been justified.'' 

Amelia also remarked, ^^ Besides, it was not a fault of his 
heart, but of his head. If we had had such evening conversa- 
tions with him before he went away as we have had since his 
return, he would most certainly have continued faithful." 

^^ I confess my fault," said he, ^^ and I have exerted myself to 
the utmost to repair the injury it has done. But he acknowl- 
edges his fault, and yet desires to persevere in it, — persevere in 
it from vanity, on account of the perverted judgment of a few, 
although his conscience tells him to do what I demand of him. 
And, if I was at fault for not warning him, he is doubly to be 
blamed for becoming a Bomanist without asking intelligent ad- 
vice on the subject. He did precisely as some great characters 
do, who suffer themselves to be made Bomanists because they are 
too exalted to consult an intelligent Protestant minister, who 
would soon drive away the mist from their eyes which the prose- 
lyters have raised before them." 

'^ But do you believe it right, dear husband, to employ com- 
pulsion in matters of faith and duty?" 



220 DISCUSSION. 

^^ How can you ask that question ? We only compel obstinate 
children with the rod ; intelligent men must subdue themselves. 
But what application has that to this case ?^' 

^'Do you not believe that you are exercising compulsion to- 
. ward your son when you let him feel your displeasure and press 
the subject upon him with an earnestness which powerfully 
affects his filial heart ? Dear husband^ I as heartily desire as 
you do what you demand of him, and it will greatly add to the 
happiness of my life if Charles fulfills our wishes. But his deter- 
mination will only then be of any value to us if he voluntarily 
makes and executes it.^' 

^^ I agree with you perfectly. But it is not applicable here, 
for I do not wish to force him to do a thing about the moral 
necessity of which he is doubtful, but merely to overcome the 
infirmities which hinder him from following the dictates of his 
conscience/^ 

^^ But, dear father/^ said Charles, ^^ there are many excellent 
Catholics who do not believe all that their church has even estab- 
lished as true, but are entirely Protestant in their sentiments, 
and yet remain in the communion of their church. Will you on 
that account condemn them?^^ 

^^That is quite another case. The Romanist who lives in a 
country where the Protestant faith is forbidden as heretical 
may well be excused if he does not separate from his church. 
For in that case there are important duties which he has to per- 
form for his civil welfare and the happiness of his family. And 
I have already said that a few errors and abuses which we ob- 
serve in our church will not justify us in abandoning it, but that 
this is only the case when the church to which we belong does 
not serve nor promote, perhaps hinders, the design of Christianity, 
which is to deliver men from the dominion of sin. In a country 
such as Italy, Spain, or Portugal, a Bomanist will not easily come 
to this opinion about his church. But, if this were the case, he 
would be bound by his conscience to withdraw himself from his 
church. But a Romanist who lives in a country where the 



DISCUSSION. 221 

Protestant cliurcli is lawfully tolerated^ and who arrives at the 
conclusion that the Romish church does not answer the design of 
Christianity, but that the Protestant church does, him I regard 
as absolutely bound in conscience publicly to honor the acknowl- 
edged truth, and to join that church which does not serve the 
kingdom of the world, but the kingdom of God. This is your 
case; and the obligation is doubly binding on you as an apostate 
from the true church. ^^ 

^' Only one question ! Do not become angry, dear father. Let 
me ask only one question more. Do you not believe that as a 
Catholic I can be as good a Christian as if I were again to return 
to your church ? Must you not acknowledge that in all Christian 
denominations there are good and bad Christians, and that even 
with an erroneous confession of faith a man may attain to the 
object of Christianity for himself?^' 

" I have already said what was equivalent to an answer to this 
question in our first conversation, when I proved to you that it 
is a duty to leave a church under certarn conditions. But I will 
say a little more on this point. I by no means deny that there 
may be many excellent men and very good Christians in your 
church. But that is no ground to maintain that in every church 
alike^ man may become a good Christian, and that therefore it 
is not necessary to unite himself to the better church. What 
would you have said if the Greeks and Eomans, at the time of 
the first publication of Christianity, had thus expressed them- 
selves ? — ^ In our heathenism we have also many excellent men, as 
Socrates, Plato, and others; men can also be good even as idola- 
ters, who fear God and do right; therefore we continue in it.^ 
Or do you regard schools as superfluous, because among all na- 
tions, even where there were no learned institutions, learned and 
intelligent men have risen ? We should never depend upon the 
hope that we would be exceptions to the general mass, that we 
would be unhurt by the influence of erroneous opinions and of 
customs injurious to morality, and that we did not need the in- 
fluence of the truth. You would not certainlv sanction it if a 



222 DISCUSSION. 

man would associate with persons who were full of errors and 
abandoned to licentious indulgences^ in the hope that he could 
counteract the influence of such society? Thus, you cannot say 
that you will keep yourself free from the pernicious influence 
which the doctrines of your church respecting the priesthood, 
forgiveness of sin, indulgence, penance, the duty of blind obe- 
dience, and the condemnation of heretics, would have upon your 
mind. And even if you could do this, yet you would be without 
the incitements to a knowledge of the truth and the practice of 
piety which the Evangelical preaching, the free use of the Scrip- 
tures, and the Protestant worship, afibrd. In my opinion,. it is 
easier and more certain to be a good Christian in the Protestant 
church than out of her, and that men can become better Chris- 
tians within her pale than out of it. And it is a duty not to 
despise such aid, but to employ it.'' 

^^You must also remember, dear Charles,'' said the mother, 
^^ that the Savior expressly demands of you to confess his gospel, 
and that you dare not slight the word of God, without off'ending 
him. If all men had thought as you do, — namely, that a man 
may be a good man, and may believe whatever he pleases, — your 
Savior would not have found fault with the doctrines of the Pha- 
risees, the apostles would have continued to be Jews, and the 
fathers of the church heathen, and there would have been no 
witnesses of the truth in the Christian church." 

^^ I believe that I can illustrate the matter very plainly to my 
brother by a simile," remarked the sister, ^' which you will, no 
doubt, think very proper for a lady expecting shortly to be a 
bride. If I had to choose between two gentlemen, one of whom 
bore so very good a character for intelligence and morality that 
I must believe he would make me a happy wife, but the other, 
by his selfishness and many imperfections, threatened to make 
me miserable, I would be very much to blame if I would reject 
the former and choose the latter, flattering myself that I was 
strong enough to resist all the pernicious influence of his daily 
intercourse and most intimate society. Thus you stand, dear 



INSTRUCTION. ' 223 

brother, between two cliurcbes, to choose for yourself one or the 
other as your companion and guide for life. But it is usual and 
proper that persons require time for consideration in such an im- 
portant choice, and I think, father, that we should allow Charles 
^time for meditation, that he may make up his mind fully. ^' 

This proposition of Amelia met with general approbation ; all 
acknowledged it was very reasonable, and they agreed that only 
after the lapse of eight or ten weeks would they again introduce 
this subject of conversation. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CHARLES AND GIULETTA — HER SERIOUS ILLNESS AND FINAL 

RECOVERY LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION — DOCTOR 

FREDERICK CHARLESES RETURN TO THE TRUE FAITH 

HAPPY FAMILY. 

While Charles was fluctuating, Giuletta was rapidly pro- 
ceeding in the proper path. She now mentioned her desire of 
attacTiing herself to the Protestant church. The pastor examined 
her very closely on her motives for this step. Her candor, her 
deep religious feeling, her general character and circumstances, 
soon convinced the pastor that the Protestant church would gain 
m her a sincere and respectable member. At length he sanc- 
tioned her determination, and, with great satisfaction, devoted 
himself to the work of instructing her. But he soon saw with 
astonishment how little he had to do. The young proselyte was 
so well acquainted with the New Testament, and had attained 
so distinct and fundamental a knowledge of the essential fea- 
tures of Christianity, founded upon the New Testament, which 
she quoted with facility, that he found little to add to it. 
He only illustrated some truths more clearly, reduced them to 
order and systematic arrangement in her mind, removed some 



224 AN ALARM. 

apparent difficulties, gupplied some deficiencies, and made her 
acquainted with the Old Testament and the history of the Chris- 
tian church and Reformation, of which she had been yet ignorant. 
After the lapse of eight weeks he declared her sufficiently instructed 
and qualified to be received into the communion of the church. 

The day on which this was to take place had already been 
appointed, when the change of climate manifested its influence 
on her health. A cold brought on a fever, which soon assumed 
a serious character and endangered her life. The whole family 
felt the deepest anxiety in her behalf, and Charles particularly 
paid the closest attention to her wants. He was continually at 
her bedside, and nursed her as he would a friend. But nothing 
could check the rage of the disease, which had now assumed a 
nervous type. Giuletta herself knew her own condition well; 
she was certain of dying, and prepared for her end. 

^^ Dearest sir, I am' dying V^ she feebly said, during one of her 
worst nights, while Charles was watching at her bed. ^^ I am 
dying, but willingly and in peace. For what great thing have I 
to expect in this world? Only one thing grieves me : — that I did 
not, before my death, publicly profess the gospel, and render that 
honor to the word of my Savior before men which is his due.'' 

^^ Be comforted, Giuletta ; God will yet grant you life to carry 
out your resolution.'' 

^^ Be it so or not, the will of God be done ! Ah, I thank him 
most fervently that he honored me so highly as to bring me to 
a knowledge of the truth ! What a miserable being would I 
have been on my dying bed at an earlier day ! Then I would 
have trembled in view of purgatory. I would have tormented 
myself with painful confessions ; I would have been perplexed 
about the power of priestly absolution, and felt myself separated 
from God through the mediation of the priest. Oh, how happy 
am I that I know my soul is not in the hands of the priest, and 
that it needs not the intercession of the saints, but is in the 
hands of God my Savior ! I have done, according to my ability 
at least, what the word of God enjoined upon me; and lam 



PIOUS RESOLUTION. 225 

certain that I shall enter into eternal life, depending only on 
the all-sufficient merits* of Jesus Christ, my God and Savior, 
whose ^ blood cleanseth from all sin/ '^ 

^' Cling to that consoling conviction, Giuletta/^ 

'' I will — I will ! I am certain I will ! God grant me grace to 
persevere to the end ! But,'^ — extending her hand,— ^^ hear the 
dying request of a sincere heart : — Do you also again honor the 
word of God before the world/' 

" Giuletta, if I do the will of God, as you have done, am I 
not then a good Christian ? And can I not be as happy as you 
are, whatever church I belong to V^ 

'^ But it is the will of God that you abandon error and pub- 
licly honor the truth. Such a confession before the world the 
Savior demands. ^ Let your light so shine before men,' said he, 
(Matt. V. 16,) Hhat others seeing your good works may glorify 
your Father which is in heaven.' But particularly hear his 
earnest language, (Matt. x. 32, 33 :) ^ Whosoever, therefore, shall 
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father 
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, 
him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.' Oh, 
then, go still further, and confess Jesus, and not his pretended 
vicegerent ; his gospel, and not the edicts of priestly councils ; 
the necessity of filial obedience to God, in order to be saved, 
and not the necessity of obedience to priests ; the need of the 
grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, and not the need 
of the absolution of men." 

^^ You move my heart, Giuletta. Yes, I will determine ! 
I will lay aside that shame which has hitherto held me back ! 
I will follow you, dear friend, so that at last I also may meet 
death with the same composure and joyful anticipation of a 
blessed eternity !" 

^^ God bless you in that resolution ! Thus you do right. Thus 
you are more faithful and honest than those Pharisees who, 
though they believed in Christ, yet did not confess him from the 
fear of men, because they, as the Evangelist reproachfully adds, 



228 RESTORATION. 

(John xii. 43,) ' loved the praise of men more than the praise of 
God/ Thus you are a worthy disciple of the apostles, who, in 
the midst of all persecution, acknowledged the truth, and cried 
out, (Acts V. 29,) ^ We ought to obey God rather than men/ 
Ah, how utterly vain and worthless is the judgment of men 
when we are near the judgment-seat of God ! But we are ex- 
posed to it also in the days of our health, and know not how soon 
we may be called/^ 

She was silent. She seemed to have sunk into a deep slum- 
ber. But, as Charles approached nearer, he saw her face covered 
with the paleness of death. No respiration, no pulse, was longer 
observable. He was deeply affected, and, in silence, vowed to 
fulfill the last word of admonition of his departing friend. But 
he hastened after help, if help was any longer necessary. The 
physician was soon at the bedside of the patient. The body was 
placed in a warm bath. All in vain ! It was again laid in bed, 
and they were convinced that the last spark of life had expired. 
But still she only slumbered. The deep swoon was the crisis 
of restoration. The windows were opened, and the entrance of 
the fresh breeze awakened the faint spark of life anew. The 
father observed, as after some time he visited the supposed 
dead person, that her pulse had changed. He examined the 
body, and it appeared to him to grow warm. The physician, 
being again called in, applied anew all the means of his art. 
After some hours the patient was restored to her senses, and, soon 
after, to her speech. 

She was saved, and in a few weeks was again perfectly restored. 

Her gratitude to Charles and his parents was unbounded. 
Before this she had been attached to them tenderly, but now her 
heart was fettered to them. Charles's parents also loved the 
stranger ; they also felt deeply obligated to her when they heard 
how much she had contributed to induce Charles to retrace his 
steps and thus remove a burden of anxiety from his parents. 

It was a peculiarly happy day for her and the whole family 
on which she, with Charles, was received into the bosom of the 



A DISCOVERY. 227 

Protestant churcli. In order to avoid observation and prevent 
the gratification of idle curiosity, their reception did not take 
place publicly before the congregation, but in an old churcb used 
for week-day services, which was little frequented ; but on the 
next Lord's day both publicly celebrated the Lord's supper with 
the other members of the family. 

After some time, Charles quite incidentally took up, from 
among his papers, some letters, which he had brought with him 
from the seminary, which purported to be recommendations to 

the Kev. Father N . They were now useless, and he had 

determined to destroy them. But the father, when he heard of 
it, was of a different opinion, and believed that they at least 
deserved to be read, that they might ascertain the good opinion 
of his Eomish friends and their expectations of him, which were 
now blasted by his return to the Protestant church. The 
curiosity of the mother and Amelia seconded the resolution, 
which Charles rather reluctantly consented to, from a secret ap- 
prehension that something unpleasant might be discovered. The 
letters were opened; but they contained nothing but praise of 
him, with the request to promote in every possible way the 
worldly prosperity of this ^^ faithful son in Christ.^^ The father 
was surprised at their barren contents. He examined the letters 
very closely, to see if nothing secret could be found; but all in 
vain. At length he observed that the space between the lines 
was very great, and that one whole page was left blank. He 
expressed the suspicion that the paper might contain another 
letter, written in sympathetic ink, the writing of which would 
only become visible when the paper was dipped in a certain 
chemical solution. He was well acquainted with that process, 
and determined on the spot to try the experiment. 

He was not deceived. When the paper was taken out of the 
solution, writing, before invisible, became distinct, the purport of 
which was not at all gratifying to his son. His friend Colbert gave 
the Romish priest to whom the letter was addressed a correct 
description of Charles's character, particularly of his infirmities. 



228 A DISCOVERY. 

througli whicli lie might be influenced. ^^ Althougli'^ (it was said, 
among other things) ^^he has become a Catholic from conviction, 
yet certain dependence is not yet to be placed on that, because 
he has not yet been properly brought to an unconditional faith 
in the word of the church. Besides, his early principles may 
again be easily awakened, especially through the influence of 
his parents, who, I am told, are zealous Lutherans. For this 
reason, the lady who accompanies him has been instructed to 
watch him closely, and our excellent Dr. Frederick will also 
know how to perform his duty. But yet it will be necessary to 
separate the young man from his parents as soon as possible. 

You will invite him to come to . You will hold out the 

most brilliant promises to him, and introduce him to the society 
of such of the faithful as are capable of watching and taking 
care of him. If he shows any disposition to retract, you will par- 
ticularly remind him of the uncharitable judgment he will ex- 
pose himself to before the world, — an argument which is more 
powerful with him than all others. You will take care that a 
faithful sister wins his afi'ections, who is instructed to declare 
that she can love none other than a Catholic; you will, in a word, 
know how to manage every thing so that he may be retained in 
the church. For, although nothing particular is gained in him, 
inasmuch as he is a mere bungler in music, yet the honor of the 
church demands that he be retained. The lady, a good Catholic, 
who is educated in obedience to the church, you can easily keep 
to her duty by spiritual punishments. But whether the alarm of 
spiritual punishments is yet to be applied to him you can judge 
of by circumstances, and may easily ascertain from some attempts 
very carefully made.^^ 

At the reading of this letter Charles's face changed color; he 
blushed and grew deadly pale by turns. Shame for his weakness 
and indignation at these deceitful instructions filled his heart at 
the same time. He found that Colbert had, without his knowl- 
edge, held a correspondence about him and his parents ; he saw 
with shame how little importance they attached to him. Yet this 



THE DISCLOSURE. 229 

feeling of shame purged his soul of the last remnant of vanity, 
which had so long prevented him from fulfilling the desires of 
his parents and hearing the voice of his own better convictions. 
He was glad that the letters were now first deciphered after his 
return to the Protestant church. The father said nothing. He 
saw that this letter required no comments of his. The mother 
laughed at the mistake of the wily priest about Giuletta, and 
wished that he might learn to his shame how the gospel had 
done more than all his well-arranged instruction. Charles told 
his parents how she had revealed to him the instructions she had 
received at her last confession at the seminary. The parents 
esteemed the young woman still more highly on that account, 
and reposed still greater confidence in her. 

The real character of Dr. Frederick now began to be de- 
veloped from the mention made of his name in the letter; and 
it became gradually better known, as they compared together 
what they had heard of this man. It was not known whence he 
came. His manners were refined; his acquirements not incon- 
siderable; his conduct externally proper. Only, toward the last, 
several things were said of him which excited suspicion. As a 
physician, he had been so charitable to the poor that it was at 
last nd subject of surprise that several of his patients had become 
Romanists. They were poor persons, who lived in obscurity. 
But it was more remarkable that he attempted to convert to 
Romanism a respectable and wealthy lady; and the report even 
went so far as to say that she was really converted before her 
death, and that the doctor administered extreme unction to her. 
He was applauded for persuading the few members of that com- 
munion in the place to establish a Romish school ; but men won- 
dered that he himself contributed such a considerable sum 
toward it, when it was not known whence he obtained it. It 
was also attributed to his influence that the few Romanists of 
the town, who before had frequently attended the Protestant 
church, had since his residence among them absented themselves 

altogether, and had even withdrawn themselves very much from 

20 



230 GOOD COUNSEL. 

the society of Protestant Christians. A Romish midwife was 
also established there by his influence^ and was remunerated for 
her services out of his own pocket. Charles now remembered 
in what a remarkable manner this man publicly distinguished 
him as a Catholic^ and how frequently he invited him to travel 
toN . 

Taking all things together, the father concluded that Dr. 
Frederick was a proselyter, and perhaps a secret Jesuit, as this 
society now seeks in all possible ways, and in every disguise, to 
insinuate itself into the favor of the people in both Romish and 
Protestant countries. 

^^I should think,^^ said the father at last to Charles, ^^it must 
now be very agreeable to you, my son, to be delivered from the 
power of a priesthood which always surround their church- 
members with a sort of secret police. On the other hand, how 
worthy of the religion of the Spirit is the relation of the 
laity to their ministers with us ! Our religion demands volun- 
tary obedience and faith from conviction. The truth does not 
need secret inspection and artifice. It maintains itself by its own 
innate power. It is only error, which is always in danger of 
annihilation from want of argument to support it, that must be 
laboriously maintained by this police-system of espionage, but 
which only answers the purpose for a limited time. Yet I know 
well that there are Protestant Christians who, either from weak- 
ness, or hoodwinked ignorance, or indifference to all truth, yield 
to all the presumption and arrogance of the Romish priesthood, 
make them the most obsequious salutations, speak of ti-uth and 
error only in equivocal terms, for the purpose of winning the 
favor of these priests, by whom after all they are only despised. 
This is not confessing the Lord and his gospel before men; this 
is not seeking the honor of God rather than that of men. No ! 
the truth demands that those who know it should boldly confess 
it and defend it against calumny. Christian love also demands 
that for our erring brethren. To maintain, to teach, to confess, 
to defend the truth, — let these be the distinguishing marks and 



A HAPPY FAMILY. 231 

symbols of genuine Christians. But let it be only the Evan- 
gelical doctrine which we confess and defend.'^ 

Charles extended his hand, and said, ^^Thus let it be, dear 
father ! And nothing in the world shall turn aside your son from 
this straight path!'^ 

^^Then you are again wholly mine! Come to my heart, my 
dearest son V^ 

^^God be thanked for this blessed day I'^exclaimed the mother. 

^^Oh, Charles,^^ said his sister, ^^how happy you have made 
our parents !" 

^^I myself am the happiest of all,^^ he concluded. ^^Now again 
is my heart at peace; for only in piety is lasting peace to be 
found.^' 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE ANTICIPATED EVENT — ALMOST A DISAPPOINTMENT — A 
STRANGER — A SURPRISE — DOUBLE WEDDING CONGLUSION. 

Domestic concord and confidence were restored. Never was 
a family more completely happy. Relatives and friends came to 
congratulate the father on the happy occasion, and to welcome 
the son on his return to the true fold of Christ. There was a 
jubilee in the house; and though literally no ^^ fatted calf was 
killed^ ^ in celebration of the joyous event, yet there was deep 
emotion in every heart, and fervent thanksgiving went up to 
heaven. 

The report of this affair incensed Charles's former Catholic 
friends greatly. They immediately exerted all their power to 
injure his reputation as a man and an artist, and circulated the 
most scandalous stories respecting him and Griuletta. But all 
these artifices of Rome were well understood, and they failed to 
produce the designed efi'ect. Both these estimable persons 



232 APrROACHING MARRIAGE. 

gained more friends by tlie very means employed to defame 
them. Some wlio at first stood aloof and entertained suspicions 
of their sincerity, now came forward and proffered their felicita- 
tions. 

As evidence of the public confidence in his character, he was 
soon after elected professor of music in a popular Protestant 
female academy, and at the same time he was requested to 
recommend a teacher of drawing and the Italian language. This 
was designed as a compliment, for it was well understood whom 
he would select. Giuletta was of course chosen; and thus a 
permanent position for both was secured. 

The long-anticipated event was hastening to its consummation. 
Let not the reader be disappointed at not having witnessed 
violent paroxysms of love nor heard rapturous professions 
of undying fidelity. There was no juvenile extravagance in 
their courtship, nor were there any alternate seasons of storm 
and sunshine. The course ran smoothly, though not violently, 
all the time, uninterrupted by falls or rocks or quicksands. 
Theirs was genuine, dignified, mutual confidence; there was a 
perfect harmony of soul, a blending of feelings and interests, 
and an outflow of softened emotions, constantly displaying them- 
selves more in looks and affectionate treatment than in words 
and professions. 

Neither let my reader take offense at the fact of Giuletta 
accompanying Charles to his home at the invitation of his 
parents and sister, whom she had never seen. The prudish 
notions of some would not sanction this conduct in an unmarried 
lady, but the discovery of the New Testament explains it all. 
Providence does not accommodate itself to the distorted views 
of modern conventualism. It was decreed in heaven that the 
lady should be brought under Protestant influence, and this was 
the measure employed to bring about that event. Besides, she 
was not an American but an Italian lady, and fidelity to her 
national characteristics rendered such a representation necessary. 
Above all, she w^s advised by her confessor to accept the invita- 



A STRANGER. 233 

tion, and commissioned as a spy over the conduct of the young 
man. How Providence brings to naught the counsels of the 
wicked ! 

Though there was no formal engagement between these two 
young persons, yet it was well understood. They felt that they 
were well adapted to each other^ and never doubted that they 
would be united. 

It was now time to treat the matter more seriously. The 
family arranged it, and the day was appointed. Preparations 
were made and invitations sent out. There was all the bustle 
incident to an approaching village-wedding. The young ladies 
of the neighborhood gathered at the parsonage and spent days 
in the making-up of divers articles considered essential to 
domestic comfort ; for, be it remembered, there was another lady 
in the family who was also looking forward to a similar affair. 
Whoever has been present at a country-wedding in Pennsylvania 
can easily imagine how the larder and grocery-store were laid 
under contribution in preparing for such an event. 

The middle of the following week was fixed for the double 
wedding of Charles and Giuletta, and Bernhard and Amelia. 
All hearts were buoyant with hope. There was great excite- 
men^among the country-lasses, and numerous new dresses were 
ordered and numerous old ones altered for the occasion. The 
village milliner was obliged to employ a few additional seam- 
stresses, and busy was the note of preparation on all hands. 

But, alas ! how soon our full gush of happiness may be inter- 
rupted ! All of a sudden a stranger of a foreign aspect appeared 
in the village. He was a man of rather olive complexion and 
handsome features, almost hidden, however, by an enormous beard 
and whisker, and luxuriant mustache. Immediately on alighting 
at the hotel, he in a strong foreign accent inquired for the house 
of the pastor, to which he instantly repaired. The first person he 
met was Giuletta, who at once recognized him as her brother, 
who had but recently arrived in the country. At the Catholic 
seminary, at which he first called, he learned the history of her 

20* 



234 THREATS AND DEFIANCE. 

conversion and her intended marriage. Without delay lie went 
in pursuit of her^ and swore terribly that his sister should never 
marry an accursed heretic. 

After an affectionate salutation on the sister's part and a few 
questions about home and friends, he rudely commenced an 
attack. He severely rebuked her apostasy, and repeated his 
shocking oath that he would never permit her to be allied to an 
infernal heretic. She burst violently into tears, but not so much 
from grief at the threatened destruction of her hopes — for her mind 
was fixed — as at the violence of his language and conduct, and 
the confusion this affair would create in the family. She finally 
gained sufficient composure to ask, ^^How will you prevent it; 
sirr^ 

" By the Holy Virgin and all the saints, I will abduct you ! 
ni tear you away from this family ! I'll employ force — or 

rii '' 

'^ Here I stand, and, though I am but a defenceless woman, I 
defy you to lay your hands on me!'' was the lady's spirited 
reply. 

!rhe brother was moved. He admired her courage and trembled 
with excitement. He advanced a step toward her, and it was at 
first uncertain whether he designed to seize her violently or to 
pour out a brother's affection on her bosom. She maintained 
her defiant attitude, and, completely overcome by her manner, he 
extended his hand, and said, ^^Giuletta, you have overcome me; 
and yet I do not mean to say that I am reconciled to your pur- 
pose.'^ 

She now relaxed her severe tone, and mildly responded, ^^ Bro- 
ther, my circumstances, my views, my aims, my life, — all, all 
have changed. Separated as I have been so long from our 
family, I was thrown on my own resources, and was compelled to 
judge and act for myself. To this conclusion I have come, and 
no power on earth shall control me. But, brother, I interrupted 
you before — ^you said ^you would employ force — or' — there I 
interrupted you; or — what would you do?'^ 



A CANDID CONFESSION. 235 

^' Do not ask me, sister, to recite wliat I intended V* 

" I must hear it, brother/' 

^^ Well, then, I was so carried away with passion, I candidly 
confess, my design was to say that your lover might easily be put 
out of the way V 

'^ Did you intend to murder Charles ? — ^your sister's affianced 
husband ?'' exclaimed the affrighted girl. ^^That is the fruit 
of the religion you profess; mine teaches forgiveness of injuries. 
Oh! brother! you do not know the dear object against whom 
your murderous hand was to be lifted; you do not know the 
man whom God has chosen for your sister's husband and pro- 
tector; you do not know '' 

At that moment the door opened, and Charles entered. He 
was surprised to see a stranger alone with Giuletta. 

" My brother V^ she faintly said, and sank back into a chair. 

Charles respectfully saluted him; but the response was cold. 
The stranger did not know, but presumed that this was his sister's 
lover, and hence was formal and reserved. As there was no other 
introduction, owing to the sister's agitation, there was also at first 
no very polite recognition, for the truth is that Charles himself 
was silenced by his bewilderment. Gradually, sufficient com- 
posure was gained, and the conversation became more animated. 
The stranger was a master musician, and the two before long 
became familiar. Each performed several pieces on the piano, 
and in several hours' interview the stranger had softened down, 
and had begun to entertain a more favorable opinion of Charles. 
Giuletta, of course, used all her influence to reconcile her bro- 
ther, and it seemed with some success; still, there was no positive 
annunciation of his favorable opinion. For a while he seemed 
joyous, and then he would relapse again into abstraction. He 
could not be prevailed on to spend the night in the parsonage. 

^^No, no !'' he persisted; ^^I will call again to-morrow, but I 
must be alone to-night. Weighty affairs press on my mind. To- 
morrow, to-morrow; hojia nocheP^ and, waving his hand, he 
hastily left the house. 



236 A brother's perplexity. 

It was immediately reported by the village gossips that a 
complete stop had been put to all matrimonial proceedings at the 
parsonage as far as Charles and Giuletta were concerned ; and an 
air of probability was given to this report from the numerous 
questions asked by the stranger of the landlord about Charles's 
character and prospects, and his undisguised dissatisfaction with 
the whole affair. This was before he had seen his sister; and 
the landlord's daughters were not backward in retailing exagger- 
ated accounts, which were greatly magnified by every second 
person, so that before the report had gone through half the vil- 
lage, the match had been entirely broken off. 

We will accompany the brother to his lodgings. He imme- 
diately retired to his room and was absorbed in deep reflection. 
Evidently his feelings were softened ; but still he could not entirely 
sanction the alliance. His sister's conversion to Protestantism 
deeply mortified him ; but he presumed he could easily bring her 
back again to what he conceived to be the true faith. But he 
could not bear the thought of her marriage with a Protestant, 
and he an apostate from the church of Rome. There was, 
however, another fact that annoyed him, to which he had not yet 
made the most remote allusion. ^^If I take my sister home to 
Italy, she might marry a nobleman, and that would exalt our 
family, but to leave her here to become the wife of an obscure 
Protestant teacher of music — that I cannot bear;'' thus he 
reasoned with himself. He spent a restless night, and in the 
morning his mind was still disturbed. 

Agreeably to his promise, he visited his sister, and during the 
morning he became acquainted with the whole family. It was 
the first Protestant family with which he had ever become 
acquainted, and he was highly delighted with the unaffected 
simplicity, the mutual confidence, and the unalloyed happiness 
of the whole household. He began to think that his sister 
would at least be happy in her matrimonial connection, for he 
observed that between her and Charles there existed the most 
perfect mutual affection. ♦ 



A TEMPTING OFFER REJECTED. 237 

During the day lie had another long private interview with 
Giuletta, and he again sought, though in very mild phrase, to 
shake her purpose ; but in vain. He employed every argument 
he could think of, but kept what he conceived to be the strongest 
for the last. ^^Giuletta/^ said he, ^^ suppose I could offer you 
the title, privileges, and palace of a countess in Italy : would 
you then change your mind?'^ Her curiosity was roused, but 
she presumed he was jesting. ^^Nay, I do not jest. I am sin- 
cere. Sister, you are no longer poor ! A distant wealthy relative 
of the family has recently died, and we are the only legal heirs ; 
a large fortune has come into our possession, and I have hastened 
to this country to inform you of it and take you home to Italy. 
Many an Italian nobleman would feel proud to lead you to the 
altar ! Think for a moment what our family may become ! Will 
you give up this inconsiderate engagement and accompany me 
homer' 

The lady betrayed high excitement from two causes : — first, at 
her change of fortune, and secondly, at the proposal made to 
her. She rose from her seat, and, assuming a dignified and 
commanding attitude, with all her soul flashing in her eyes, she 
said, ^^ Brother, I cannot but be gratified at this intelligence; 
but xnever — never will I change my purpose. No offer you can 
make me, no prospect you can hold out, no glittering coronet, no 
splendid palace, no luxurious ease, can ever make me unfaithful to 
my vows. Here I will remain. Take my fortune, if you choose, 
but leave me my Charles ! I can be happy with him in a lowly 
cottage, undisturbed in the enjoyment of my religious faith and 
conscious of his sincere affection. I would be wretched in a 
palace allied to a man whose religion I could not respect, even 
though I were surrounded with all that wealth can purchase. 
No, no I here I will remain. '^ 

The brother could not but admire the heroic conduct and 
unwavering fidelity of the lady. He found that all his efforts 
were fruitless, and he at length ceased his importunities. He 
did not leave the village as soon as he had intended, still cherish- 



238 CONCLUSION. 

ing the secret liope that further reflection would induce his 
sister to yield to his entreaties. But, though he frequently 
alluded to it tenderly, he discovered that her purpose was 
fixed. What could he do but rashly abandon her or reluct- 
antly yield ? He loved her too well to do the former, and could 
hardly do the latter. 

The report of this unexpected change of fortune did not 
throw Charles and his father's family into transports of joy, but 
they received it with calm satisfaction, and no more; and this 
elevated them much in the esteem of the Italian gentleman. ^^I 
cannot help it; I must consent;^' he said, at last; and, to the 
unutterable gratification of all, he expressed his acquiescence. 

Why should we longer detain the reader? The marriage-day 
arrived. Charles and Giuletta became man and wife on the 
same day with Bernhard and Amelia, and the pastor's house was 
the place of rejoicing and felicitation for a large company of 
cheerful guests and endeared friends. 

A few days after, Charles and his wife repaired to the sphere of 
their employment at the academy, and diligently discharged their 
duties. The brother returned to Italy, and in the course of a 
year came back again and faithfully delivered her portion of the 
fortune into her hands. They then retired from the active duties 
of teaching, and spent a happy and useful life in doing good to 
the poor around them, in the practice of every Christian virtue, 
and in the enjoyment of the confidence of all men ; but, above 
all, of the favor of an all-wise and beneficent Providence. 



THE END. 



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1^ 



6 

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THE BAPTIST SYSTEM EXAMINED, The Church Vindicated, and 
Sectarianism Rebuked. A Review of '^ Fuller on Baptism and the 
Terms of Communion.'' By Fedelis Scrutator — thick l8mo. cloth. 

LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER— Being a comprehensive, though con- 
densed and correct History of the Life and stupendous achieve- 
ments of the Great Reformer. By Rev. R. Weiser, 12mo. cloth — 
new edition, revised and corrected. The same work, illustrated 
with fifteen engravings, representing the most important events in 
Luther's life and history. 

THE LIFE OF LUTHER— With Special Reference to its Earlier 
Periods, and the opening Scenes of the Reformation. By Barnas 
Sears, D.D, This is an original work : with three fine steel and 
twenty-three wood engravings, all finished in the highest style of 
the art — 12mo. cloth. 

A DEFENCE OF LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. By 
John Bachman, D.D.,LL.D., against the Charges of John Bellinger, 
M.D., and others: to which are appended various Communications 
of other Protestant and Roman Catholic writers who engaged in 
the controversy. Large ]2mo. cloth. 

REGINA, OR THE LITTLE GERMAN CAPTIVE. By Rev. R. 

Weiser, Professor in Central College of Iowa, Fort Des Moines. 

Thick 18mo., cloth. 

This is an intensely interesting narrative of a little German girl, who 
was stolen by the Indians, and retained in captivity nine years, and 
finally restored to her mother. It should be in the library of every 
Christian family and Sunday School in the land. It is illustrated with 
several beautiful and appropriate engravings. 

MEMOIR OF REV. WALTER GUNN, late Missionary in Lidia, 
from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, by G. 
A. Lintner, D.D., 18mo. cloth. 



A MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM: INFANT BAPTISM, 

AND THE MODE— -By Rev. Thomas Lape, A.M. Sixth edition ] 

corrected and enlarged — 18 mo. 
This is a brief, yet comprehensive work in favor of Infant Baptism, 

and presents the whole controversy in so simple a form and clear 

a light, that all who read can understand it. 

DISCIPLINE, ARTICLES OF FAITH, AND SYNODICAL CON- 
STITUTION, AS ADOPTED BY THE EVANGELICAL LU- 
THERAN SYNOD OF SOUTH CAROLINA, and adjacent States, 
to which is added a Liturgy, and some forms of Prayer for families 
and individuals — 12mo. cloth. 

HISTORY OF THE SALZBURGERS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS. 
By Rev. P. A. Strobel — 12mo. cloth. 

MANUAL OF SACRED HISTORY— A guide to the understanding 
of the Divine Plan of Salvation, according to its Historical Develop- 
ment. By John Henry Kurtz, D.D., Professor of Church History in 
the University of Dorpat. etc. Translated from the sixth German 
edition, by Rev. Prof. Charles F. SchaefFer, D.D. — Large 12mo. 

THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By Rev. Dr. Stork. 

THE SEPULCHRES OF OUR DEPARTED. By Rev. F. R. An- 
spach, A.M. — 12mo. cloth. 

THE LIFE OF PHILIP MELANCTHON, the Friend and Companion 
of Luther, according to his Inner and Outer Life. Translated from 
the German of Charles Frederick Ledderhose, by the Rev. G. F. 
Krotel, of Lancaster, Pa., with a portrait of Melancthon — 12mo. 

MEMOIR OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY MELCHOIR 
MUHLENBERG, D.D., Patriarch of the Evang. Luth. Church in 
America. By M. L. Stoever, A.M., Professor in Penn. College. 
12mo., cloth. 

LUTHER'S CHRISTMAS TREE, by Rev. Dr. Stork,— illustrated 
whh six large engravings, representing important events in the 
life and times of Luther. Small 4to., paper. 

STARCK'S PRAYER-BOOK— In German and English— 12mo. 

SCHMUCKER^^S (Dr. J. G.) EXPLANATION OF THE REVELA- 
TION OF ST. JOHN— In English and German— 12mo., with a 
portrait of the author, i^' There are hwifew left of this work. 

JOHANN ARNDT'S WAHRES CHRISTENTHUM— ARNDPS 
TRUE CHRISTIANITY— In German and English, large 8vo. shp. 

THE CHRISTIAN BOOK OF CONCORD, or Symbolical Books of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church, comprising the Three Chief 



8 

Symbols, the unaltered Augsburg Confession^ the Apology, the 
Smalcald Articles, Luther's Smaller and Larger Catechisms, the 
Formula of Concord, and an Appendix. To which is prefixed an 
Historical Introduction. Second edition, carefully revised by Rev. 
Drs. C. P. Krauth, W. M. Reynolds, J. G. Morris, C. F. Schaeffer, 
and Rev. W. F. Lehman. Translated from the German — large 
8vo.j sheep. 

THE UNALTERED AUGSBURG CONFESSION, and the Three 
Chief Symbols of the Christian Church, with Historical Intro- 
ductions and Critical and Explanatory Notes. By Christian Hein- 
rich Schott ; carefully translated from the German. 12mo., cloth. 

THEOLOGICAL SKETCH BOOK, or Skeletons of Sermons— 2 vols. 
8vo., half cloth. 

HAZELIUS' CHURCH HISTORY~12mo. 

LUTHER'S COMMENTARY on Saint PauPs Epistle to the Galatians, 
to which is prefixed Tischer's Life of Luther; also a Sketch of the 
Life of Zuingle, in English and German — large 8vo., sheep. 

SELECT TREATISES OF MARTIN LUTHER, with the Original 
German, by Rev. B. Sears. 12mo.5 cloth. 

THE CANTICA SACRA; a Collection of Church Music, embracing, 
besides some new pieces, a choice selection of German and English 
Chorals, Set Pieces, Chants, &c., from the best European and 
American authors, adapted to the various metres in use, with the 
Text in German and English, by Rev. J. J. Fast. 

ENGLISH LUTHERAN ALMANAC— Containing valuable statistical 
and general information of the Church; also a complete list of all 
the Lutheran Ministers in the United States, with their Post-Office 
address, carefully corrected — published annually. 

BLANK CERTIFICATES of Ordination, Licensure, Confirmation 
and Marriage. The form and style of these Certificates are entirely 
new and very neat. 



STANDARD THEOLOGICAL 



VALUABLE MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS. 



THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JAMES ARMINIUS, D.D., formerly 
Professor of Divinity in the University of Leyden. Translated from 
the Latin, with a Sketch of the Life of the Author. 
It may not be generally known that only two of the three vols, of 
the Works of Arminius have ever been published in the English 
language, viz. : The edition published in 1825, by James Nichols, 
London — the third volume either never having been translated, or if 
it was, never republished; it remains for an American translator to 
render the third volume into English, and for an American publishing 
house to first offer, in the English tongue, the complete Works of the 
Great Expounder of the Arminian System. The competency of the 
American translator for his task is vouched for by those who know 
him best, and who are well and favorably known by the literary and 
religious public. The works of Arminius make three handsome 
octavo vols, of about 600 pages each, well printed on fair type, bound 
in cloth. 

THE COMPREHENSIVE COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE— 
Containing Scott's Marginal References; Malt. Henry's Com- 
mentary; Practical Observations of Rev. Thomas Scolt, D.D., with 
extensive Explanatory, Critical, and Philological Notes, selected 
from Scott, Doddridge, Gill, Adam Clark, Patrick, Poole, Lovvth, 
Burder, Harmer, Calmet, Stuart, Robinson, Bush, Rosenmueller, 
. Bloomfield, and many other writers on the Scriptures. The whole 
designed to be a Digest and combination of the advantages of the 
best Bible Commentaries, embracing all that is valuable in Henry, 
Scott, Doddridge, &c. In six volumes^ super royal octavo, bound 
in full, strong sheep. 

CLARKE'S COxMPLETE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD AND 
NEW TESTAMENT — 4 vols, super royal 8vo., in full strong sheep. 



10 

CLARKE\S COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT— 2 

vols, super royal 8vo., full sheep. 

SIMMON'S SCRIPTURE MANUAL, Alphabetically and systema- 
tically arranged, designed to facilitate the finding of proof-texts. 
This is a truly valuable work. 

MACKNIGHT ON THE EPISTLES, with a Commentary and Notes; 
to which is added a History of the Apostle Paul, 

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT.— A beautiful little minia- 
ture volume, printed on large type, intended as a pocket manual for 
frequent perusal. It is a very appropriate present from a pastor 
to a church member, or from one pious friend to another. 

THE HISTORY, DOCTRINE, GOVERNMENT AND STATISTICS 
OF THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED 
STATES, with a preliminary sketch of Judaism, Paganism, and 
Mohammedanism, by Joseph Belcher, D.D. Embellished with 
nearly 200 fine engravings, large 8vo. roan, embossed. 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF REV. JOHN GUMMING, D.D., 25 
vols. ]2mo. 

BARNES' NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT, 11 vols. 12mo. 

Do. Do. JOB, DANIEL, AND ISAIAH— 5 vols. 1 2rao. 

LIVES AND TIMES of the Most Distinguished CHRISTIAN 
FATHERS, to the close of the 3d century, 8vo. sheep. 

GAILLARD'S CHURCH HISTORY— 8vo. stiff paper. 

GATHERED TREASURES FROM THE MINES OF LITERATURE ; 
containing Tales, Sketches, Anecdotes, and Gems of Thought* 
Literary, Moral, Pleasing, and Instructive, 8vo. roan embossed. 

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, with engravings, 18mo., cloth.— A good 
edition of this excellent work. 

LOOKING-GLASS; or, Intellectual Mirror— A Juvenile Book, with 
64 engravings, 18mo., cloth. 

DODDRIDGE'S RISE AND PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE 
SOUL— 32mo., cloth. 

KEMPIS' CHRISTIAN'S PATTERN— 32mo., cloth. 

MASON ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE— 32mo., cloth. 

MRS. ROWE'S DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES OF THE HEART.— 
32mo., cloth. 

YOUNG AMERICAN; or, Book of Government andXaw, by Peter 
Parley — 12mo., half morocco. 



11 

JESUS' WITNESSES, or llie ^' Great Salvation Exemplified.'^ 12mo. 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS DICK, LL.D. Illustrated 
with numerous engravings, 2 vols., 8vo., sheep. 

PLUTARCH'S LIVES— 8vo., sheep. A good editiou. 

THE SPECTATOR— by Addison, 8vo., sheep. 

ROLLINGS ANCIENT HISTORY— 2 vols., 8vo., sheep. 

THE WRITINGS OF REY. LORENZO DOW, containing his Expe- 
rience and Travels in Europe and America; also his Polemic 
writings, 8vo. 

BOOK-KEEPING BY SINGLE AND DOUBLE ENTRY. 

Simplified and arranged, according to the present Practice of well- 
regulated Counting Houses in the United States. By John H. Shea, 
Accountant. 

This is a 'practical system, and is considered one of the best works 
on the subject of Book-keeping extant. It is now offered at a reduced 
'price. 

This Treatise comprises FORMS of RECEIPTS, DRAFTS, BILLS 
OF PARCELS, ACCOUNTS CURRENT, and such Accounts as 
usually occur in actual business. 

Also, USEFUL CALCULATIONS of Interest, Equations or Average 
of Payments, and a Vocabulary of Commercial Terms, in Alpha- 
betical Order. 

It contains a Series of Lectures on Double Entry, peculiarly 
adapted to extensive and complicated business. 

The Lectures include a variety of Questions concerning Domestic 
Business — Discounting and Renewing Bills — Importing and Export- 
ing — the purchase and sale of Bills of Exchange — Commission and 
Company Accounts, both Domestic and Foreign, 



TO 

SUPERINTENDENTS AND TEACHERS 

OF 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 



The undersigned respectfully announces that he is Agent for the 
sale of the publications of the 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. 

And is prepared to furnish them at the lowest catalogue prices. 

These publications are entirely different from those published by any 
other Sunday School Society, and are now so well and favorably 
known throughout the country, that no special recommendation is 
deemed necessary. 

The whole number of bound volumes of this Society is about 700, 
varying in price from 7 cents to $1. They publish 20 different 
volumes of Scripture Question Books for Sabbath Schools, and a large 
number of Catechisms for Infant Schools. 

The Society has put up six Selected Libraries, viz. : 

Little Boy's and Girl's Library, 

The Infant's Library, 

The Sabbath School Library, 

The Family Library, 

The Children's Library, 

The Youth's Library, 

The prices of these Sabbath School publications are fully as low, 
if not lower, than any other similar Books published in the country, 
and are regarded as unexceptionable on the score of sectarianism. 

A full assortment wdll always be kept on hand and for sale by the 
undersigned. Terms cash. 

^^ Catalogues, with the price annexed to each book, will be fur- 
nished gratis, when applied for. 

Also, a large assortment of SCHOOL AND CLASSICAL 
BOOKS, Pulpit and Family BIBLES, Books of Common (Epis- 
copal) Prayer, Hymn Books of the various Denominations, Church 
Music Books, PAPER, and STATIONERY generally, for sale 

at WHOLESALE AND RETAIL by 

T. NZSWTOIV HVRTZ, 

PUBLISHER, BOOKSELLER, AND STATIONER, 

No. 151 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Md. 



25 vols, for . . 


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40 vols, for . . 


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100 vols, for . . 


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25 vols, for . . 


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100 vols, for . . 


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150 vols, for . . 


. . 30 00 



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